Flashline Upgrades Software Reuse Platform

Flashline Inc. on Monday will announce a new version of its software reuse platform, with collaboration and integration capabilities.

The Cleveland-based company will announce Flashline Component Manager Enterprise Edition (CMEE) 3.2, which supports collaboration among software developers and enables them to integrate new and reusable software assets—such as components and code libraries—with existing frameworks and systems, the company said.

Among the new features in the CMEE 3.2 are discussion forums for developers to chat about their reusable software components, enhanced integration with software configuration management (SCM) systems for better version control, and the ability to upload and import reusable software components, said Flashline officials.

Michael Blechar, vice president of Internet and e-Business Technologies at Gartner Inc., said that as reusable components and Web services become more prevalent there will be more of a need for developers to collaborate in the development of applications and new Web services. "As a best practice, IS staff should be organized in a manner to do both development and maintenance based on the interrelationships of tightly coupled components," Blechar said in a statement. "In this environment, enabled communication and coordination of software assets across teams is critical. By utilizing these best practices, organizations are realizing the bottom line benefits of asset reuse and ultimate increases in productivity."

Flashline said CMEE 3.2 integrates with SCM tools, such as Rational ClearCase and Merant PVCS Dimensions. It features automatic import capability and automatically notifies the repository manager when a new component or software asset is added to the repository.

Cathy Lippert, vice president of product management at Flashline, said CMEE 3.2 will make it easier for organizations to benefit from reusing their software assets—not only by the nature of its repository but also through its new features. "Our customer experience has shown that collaboration is essential to successful reuse efforts and adding asset-centric forums is a key next step," Lippert said in a statement.

The product will be available later this quarter, the company said.