Progress Spinoff Makes All Database Applications Local

PeerDirect Corp., a recent spinoff of Progress Software Corp., this week will release a suite of products that replicates bidirectionally, distributes and synchronizes data across heterogeneous database environments.

New in the PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise suite beyond the bidirectional technology that Progress Software had already made available is full application replication. This means that applications deployed in a central environment on one database can also run on regional servers or mobile workers notebooks, even if theyre running different databases or are not connected to the Internet.

Also new is the ability to slice data and provide users with unique views, as opposed to the traditional method of having to replicate an entire database, said PeerDirect officials, in Bedford, Mass.

Ian Campbell, an analyst with Nucleus Research Inc., in Wellesley, Mass., said the view capability, which gives each user a set of data thats unique to the individual, is compelling.

“You can edit [the data] and do whatever you want with it,” Campbell said. “Thats very useful for somebody like a sales guy who needs access to a [customer relationship management] system but needs to interact just with their view of the world.”

Dan Stratton, development manager at Quality Design Systems Inc., a company that makes software for retail, commercial, retread and wholesale businesses in the tire and automotive industry, said the view feature would come in handy for QDS customers that have franchises.

“Having different views, we can slice and dice data different ways for different users based on their needs,” said Stratton, in Boise, Idaho.

The application replication feature in PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise will also enable QDS to push out application updates to clients, saving one QDS employee “an entire week of driving around the state to get the update done,” Stratton said.

The PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise suite comprises the InnerEdge server, which is used inside the corporate infrastructure, and the OuterEdge server, which is used in conjunction with InnerEdge servers to distribute applications. The InnerEdge server is priced starting at $25,000; the OuterEdge server starts at $1,000.