Vision Software, a leader in the enterprise Java application development market, today announced the availability of Vision JADE 2.0, a revolutionary new product that allows customers to rapidly develop multi-tier applications in Java. Vision JADE's unique declarative business rules approach allows application developers to automate the creation and deployment of 100 percent pure Java applications without having to manually code complex business logic. Vision JADE supports open multi-tier deployment architecture and all major data sources, allowing both new and legacy applications to be quickly deployed to an intranet or throughout the enterprise.

Vision JADE is the only Java-based solution that focuses on business logic automation and code creation. Unlike other development tools that automate only presentation or data logic, Vision JADE's Declarative Rapid Application Development (RAD) automates all three: presentation, data, and business logic. Through Vision JADE's Declarative RAD approach, customers can rapidly develop and deploy applications that adapt easily with minimal recoding as business conditions evolve.

"HCC selected Vision JADE to reengineer several of our business-critical applications in Java and deploy them over the Internet. HCC is a highly distributed provider of health care information management services and providing superior service while lowering operational costs is essential to our business," said Ivar Chhina, HCC VP of finance & MIS, CFO. "We consider Vision JADE a strategic tool and are counting on it to significantly reduce application development and deployment costs and allow us to more quickly move to an intranet architecture. We anticipate that Vision JADE's declarative business rules will simplify complex applications such as our nationwide payroll management system, and provide us with better control over our business processes as we migrate them to our intranet. Through Vision JADE, we also expect our applications to be more easily adaptable, allowing us to better respond to our rapidly changing business environment."

"A declarative business rules approach to development allows IT organizations to build applications that are more consistent and more likely to meet the needs and expectations of the end-user," said John Biasi, director of application strategies service, Hurwitz Group, Inc. "Vision JADE promotes collaboration among corporate teams by enhancing communication among end users, business analysts, and application developers."

"Vision JADE is a key constructive development tool in our business group's move to distributed, business rule-oriented applications. Because of Vision JADE's rules-driven approach, our managers and programmers can now collaborate more effectively to quickly develop (and modify) functional, Java- based Inter/intranet applications," commented William Shek DVM, Ph.D., director of diagnostic services, Charles River Laboratories. "We are very excited about the expanded and enhanced services that we will be able to provide to our customers in the biomedical research community by using web- enabled applications developed with JADE."

Vision JADE provides the following features and benefits to developers of Java based applications:

Declarative RAD Ensures Efficient Application Development.

Vision JADE:

* Significantly speeds application delivery through the automation of business logic.

* Enables automatic reuse of business rules over all transactions, guaranteeing consistency and data integrity across the applications and their transactions.

* Generates 100% Java code for multi-tier applications. Within Vision JADE, rules are compiled, not interpreted, ensuring high-performance applications.

* Represents rules with simple declarative statements, instead of procedural logic. Each declarative statement can replace up to two hundred lines of Java code, lowering application life cycle costs and eliminating coding bugs.

* Provides a point and click, easy to use visual development environment, which enables development of complex applications quickly. Vision JADE dramatically shortens development schedules for component based applications. The easy to use business templates ensure a consistent look and feel for the graphical user interface across all applications.

Open, Multi-Tier Deployment Model Supports Enterprise Environments.

Vision JADE:

* Provides native support for all standard application servers, such as DCOM and Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), CORBA/IIOP, and JDBC. With its open architecture, Vision JADE allows companies to move easily to new infrastructures and accommodate a changing environment.

Enterprise Data Integration with Leading RDBMS and Connectivity Solutions.

Vision JADE:

* Supports standard RDBMS solutions, including Oracle, MS SQL Server and Sybase.

* Integrates easily with existing packaged applications such as SAP, PeopleSoft, and Baan through a drag and drop interface.

* Supports middleware products from Visigenic, Microsoft, and others.

"Vision Software is pleased to pioneer products in the emerging field of automating business logic," said Naren Bakshi, president and CEO of Vision Software. "Our customers report tremendous gains in application delivery and long-term viability using Vision JADE."

Pricing and Availability

Vision JADE is available today from Vision Software and its worldwide partners. Pricing starts at $2,995 per developer seat. Vision JADE supports the Windows NT, Windows 95 and Solaris platforms.

About Vision Software

Vision Software, headquartered in Oakland, CA and founded in 1991, has created a new category of enterprise application development solutions, designed to accelerate the development of Java-based, business-critical applications. Vision Software's solutions help companies take advantage of intranet computing and new development languages such as Java, while maintaining their significant investment in resources and legacy applications. Vision Software's flagship product, Vision JADE is a unique visual environment that automates the development and deployment of multi-tier, 100% Java applications for the enterprise.

Over 120 customers worldwide rely on business applications developed with Vision solutions, including Brooks Brothers, CSC Consulting, Dynamic Consortium, Pacific Bell Video Services, and Interim Services. Vision Software's partners include Microsoft, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Sybase, and many systems integrators and value added resellers.

Vision Software has offices throughout the U.S. and Europe. For additional information, please contact: www.vision-soft.com, sales@vision- soft.com, tel: 1.800.984-SOFT (7638); 1.510.238.4100, fax: 1.510.238.4101.

Vision JADE is a trademark of Vision Software, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Source: Vision Software