Logidex Makes Reuse More Logical

That&s because source management suites are often vendor-specific, unable to interchange data and track projects between each other. Component identification and retrieval is often limited to an IDE from the same vendor or platform. Therefore, source code often ends up living in silos.

Code discovery and cross-platform and environment manageability, therefore, as well as reusability must play a key role in source management. Proof lies in today&s service-oriented architecture (SOA) components, which are a hodgepodge of reusable code.

Typically, the process of developing a component includes steps such as requirements gathering, business modeling, and creating functional diagrams, source code and output files. Each of these files is managed and stored separately with different tools and therefore are invisible to each other. When it comes to cross-platform development, reusability becomes even more difficult because of the different source file formats and functions that developers must integrate.

CRN Test Center engineers believe LogicLibrary offers a comprehensive solution for managing software assets and improving reusability. LogicLibrary&s Logidex does not lock users into any fixed set of software assets. Logidex&s metadata repository can store COM components, Enterprise JavaBeanss, .Net components and legacy code. Essentially, it stores any file in any environment and managed by leading source management tools including CVS and Visual SourceSafe.

With Logidex, software development assets can include best-practice documentation, enterprise architectures, models, reports and anything else architects, developers and managers can use—with the exception of binary files.

Logidex provides about 20 templates defining asset file types, but solution providers also can design their own. Because information on assets varies per customer, the fields in Logidex&s templates are customizable. By breaking asset classification into four sections—Overview, Classifier, Artifacts and Relationship—Logidex leads to faster application development because assets are easily searchable and readily accessible.

Overview maintains the names of assets, versions and descriptions, so developers can search for them and distinguish between different versions. The Relationships area links assets together and also helps developers navigate them. By looking at an asset&s relationships, developers can track source changes and bugs. In addition, relationships help define boundaries between applications and help developers with application integration. Classifiers include author names, platforms and domains. Classifiers also control data types such as strings, Booleans and dates used in XML files. Developers also can track predefined lists, test cases and any ad hoc document needed by applications in realtime.

Logidex provides an easy method for passing files, including entire components, from one code management environment to another, as long as the right IDEs are installed locally to use new code.

LogicLibrary offers presales support, product training and post-sales technical assistance. The company has an extensive lead-generation program, however, only about 20 percent of its software is sold through the channel. The average reseller margin is between 20 percent and 50 percent, depending on a partner&s level of post-sales support. Logidex is priced at $1,000 per seat and $25,000 per server.