FusionWare Simplifies Processes

The complexity behind integrating systems to process business documents across many platforms is probably the most costly endeavor that system integrators must support. It&'s a situation that can easily lead to cost overruns during fixed-priced projects, forcing integrators to give away thousands of dollars&' worth of programming to satisfy development contracts.

And customers also often incur large expenses. When implementing Microsoft BizTalk, for instance, they must invest in an array of Windows servers and a database server, as well as hire .Net developers who understand how to develop components that operate orchestration processes on a BizTalk server.

In contrast, CRN Test Center engineers found that FusionWare offers a simpler alternative for VARs servicing midsize companies. FusionWare Integration Server eclipses competing products by eliminating the need for any specific infrastructure and providing a simple, wizard-driven architecture that reduces the complexity of mapping business documents.

As far as infrastructure, all that&'s needed is an operating system on which to install the FusionWare server. The product works on various flavors of Unix and Linux, Windows, OS/400 and even on Apple&'s Macintosh operating system.

FusionWare Integration Server arrives with three major components: Server, Designer and Administrator.

FusionWare Server uses a unique, two-phase data transformation method to map business documents. The software focuses on decoupling business documents from associated data by creating a meta-description of their internal fields. Then, the fields are mapped to generic questions on a questionnaire. External data received from business partners is matched against these questionnaires.

FusionWare Designer minimizes coding by providing built-in functions that resolve the steps required to map data to fields. Developers can drag input line items to the actual fields. The process is repeated without having to write code.

Using FusionWare Administrator, solution providers can monitor the performance of their customers&' systems and recommend more license threads based on their observations. Solution providers can add new threads while the server is running. This gives solution providers the ability to service customers without incurring the expense of going on-site. Morever, FusionWare Administrator can deploy software updates and new processes. This can be done without disrupting customers&' daily activities with FusionWare business applications.

Instead of licensing the server per CPU or charging for every user connection, FusionWare offers a unique licensing model—customers are charged for concurrent threads. To establish pricing, solution providers figure out how many concurrent business processes their clients are running and at what points the server will experience peaks.

FusionWare offers system integrators an average margin of 35 percent up to 50 percent for volume distributors. The company does not charge for technical support to partners that have active maintenance contracts. Likewise, development support is provided at no charge. FusionWare Integration Server starts at $15,000.