Esual Expands Interactivity of Web-Based Applications

A Paris company is bringing its software for easing deployment of applications via the Internet to the United States. Esual Software Inc.s products are aimed at businesses trying to make Web sites, e-business applications, intranets and extranets more interactive while alleviating the burden on back-end servers.

Key to the companys products are Esual Executables, applications that can be loaded onto a clients Web page. The library of executables includes Smart Search, which speeds product or topic selection; Quick Search, which eases Web site navigation; Animator, which enables site developers to make objects move; and Active List, which sorts up to 4,000 rows of data. The executables are designed to solve problems from slow Web site response time to an overly complex site. Theyre also used to attract users to a site and to keep them there once theyre logged in.

The executables run on the Web site as it is loaded. Visitors can configure the type of search they want to do via the executables, which take much of that load off the servers, said Esual President and CEO Bruno Saint Cast. "Before, you had a thin, dumb client or a fat, rich client," said Saint Cast, whose company opened a San Francisco office last week. "Now you can have thin and rich."

Other products include Esual Design Studio, which enables users to customize the executables, and Esual Execution Server, which uses caching and compression technology to more quickly query databases and access server data. The software also runs on Java-enabled devices and, because it is backward-compatible with Java Virtual Machine 1.1, can run on most Windows, Mac OS and Unix platforms. Saint Cast said Esual will unveil a software development kit in the next two to three months that will let users build their own executable applications.

WStore Europe S.A., which sells enterprise IT products on Web sites in England and France, has been using Esuals Smart Search and Quick Search executables since 1999. The software lets users choose how they want to search the site and how to select products. For WStore, in Paris, the benefits are that demand on the companys servers is cut because the data is loaded only once and the search can run without any query to the server, officials said.

The software is selling in the United States now; pricing varies, depending on use and the number of users.