Workflow and business process management applications come with a broad range of capabilities and focus on a variety of things. That breadth of differences is apparent in the recent BPM releases from Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. and Ultimus Inc. that eWEEK Labs tested.
Magic Softwares iBolt Business Integration Suite 2.0, with its focus on EAI (enterprise application integration) and Java, provides a good set of tools for integrating applications as part of process and workflow automation. Available now, iBolt Suite 2.0 is priced based on active business process threads, with a license for 35 active threads costing $85,000.
In contrast, we found Ultimus BPM Suite 7.0 provided a good tool set for automating processes, particularly in the .Net Framework and Microsoft Corp. applications. Released earlier this month, the product is priced on a per-user and per-steps-performed-per-day basis. Costs usually range between $50,000 and $200,000, Ultimus officials said.
Both products give companies a way to visualize using middleware as part of improving workflow as well as giving analysts and developers the tools necessary to simplify application integration. The key difference between the two is the scope of each suite.
iBolt includes a broader set of development tools and hooks into applications, making it well-suited to organizations that have a good number of automated processes residing in discrete applications. BPM Suite is more focused on building out workflow and creating reusable process designs to automate a companys manual tasks. Our tests show that its best suited to situations where a human process governs a system-to-system transaction.
As part of an initiative to simplify developing new workflows, Ultimus is developing a technology called Adaptive Discovery to create systems that deliver value faster.
Click here to read the full review of iBolt Business Integration Suite 2.0.
Click here to read the full review of Ultimus BPM Suite 7.0.
Technical Analyst Michael Caton can be reached at michael_caton@ziffdavis.com.
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