eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Not to be outdone in the mashup wars that have flared up among Web 2.0 platform providers, Kapow Technologies is preparing to roll out its Kapow OnDemand enterprise mashup and Web harvesting service.
The company will introduce Kapow OnDemand, which the company says will help turn the Web into a personal information service for users, April 22 at the O’Reilly Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. The offering also will deliver data directly into Excel spreadsheets.
Click Here to Watch the Latest eWEEK Newsbreak Video.
In conjunction with the Kapow OnDemand announcement, the company also will announce its Kapow Connector for Excel. With the Kapow Connector for Excel-particularly when used in combination with Kapow OnDemand or the Kapow Mashup Server Web 2.0 Edition-Excel users can find and execute Web services that deliver data directly to their spreadsheet, Kapow officials said. In addition to Excel spreadsheets, users can import Web data into existing applications and IT infrastructure via XML, the company said.
“Obtaining access to data, converting unstructured data formats and IT governance are among the top issues hampering enterprise mashup deployments today,” said Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with ZapThink. “Kapow OnDemand removes these barriers. Business analysts now have the ability to create automated robots that collect and integrate Web data directly into Excel, which is one of the most pervasive desktop environments in use today. Meanwhile, IT departments have a solution that gives them more control and choice in their level of involvement with mashup and Web intelligence projects.”
Mashups: Are they an IT nightmare? Read more here.
The OnDemand service is deployed on a commercial-grade grid computing environment with security, reliability and scalability akin to a typical enterprise data center, the company said. Kapow OnDemand also includes a Robot Designer feature for users to create custom Web harvesting feeds and services. Company officials said nontechnical users should be able to build robots in a matter of minutes with minimal training.
“We think this news is exceptional because of the on demand nature of the mashups it supports. Basically, organizations can use Kapow’s software to create Web-based mashups inside the network, or the OnDemand product to do the same in the Internet cloud, or any combination,” Bloomberg said. “In essence, mashups can be portable and location independent, making them quite powerful and frankly really cool.”
Pricing for Kapow OnDemand starts at $3,400 a month.