From desktop to data center via OpenSpan Platform 4.0

ORLANDO, USA: OpenSpan Inc. has announced the OpenSpan Platform Enterprise Edition version 4.0, the newest version of its flagship product that facilitates legacy modernization by accelerating the transformation of desktop and other legacy application functionality and the business process automations that span these applications to Web services.

The OpenSpan Platform Enterprise Edition enables organizations to move legacy and desktop applications off the desktop so that they can expedite the path towards SOA, improve manageability and control, mitigate risks and reduce costs.

The OpenSpan Platform Enterprise Edition features an innovative Virtual Broker that delivers enterprise-class scalability and robustness for OpenSpan-enabled applications exposed as Web services. Enterprises can now rapidly and simply access legacy application functionality and business process automations that span these applications as Web services deployable across any of the leading middleware platforms. OpenSpan extends service-enablement to desktop applications as well as other legacy applications including custom-built, third-party and “closed” applications without available APIs or connectors.

“OpenSpan’s platform has been rapidly gaining traction because it radically simplifies the process of legacy application integration and service enablement,” said Warren Wilson, Ovum research director. “Its new version shifts functionality from the desktop to the data center to provide greater centralization and control, as well as stronger support for thin-client architectures and mobile access, among other benefits. OpenSpan deserves a close look from companies that must support a large number of legacy applications, particularly if those applications span a range of platforms, languages and programming models.”

The OpenSpan Platform enables enterprises to achieve a number of important benefits, including the ability to:

* Deliver incremental SOA value to the business that is highly complementary to existing SOA platforms. The OpenSpan Platform enables desktop and other legacy applications and workflows to participate in SOA implementations. It also delivers relevant application functionality to new business users, customers or partners as Web services.

* Minimize risk and business impact by easily extending existing legacy applications to consume Web services without changing the applications or requiring retraining. Organizations retain and reuse existing business logic and avoid the cost and risk of rip-and-replace.

* Improve employee productivity by reducing desktop complexity and removing unnecessary applications and automating cumbersome business processes. The Platform enables a thin-client or even mobile client delivery strategy.

* Reduce operational costs associated with desktop applications by service-enabling desktop and other legacy applications and the workflows that span these applications. It moves applications off users’ desktops and into controlled data centers, thus reducing desktop support and potentially maintenance costs.

The OpenSpan Platform Enterprise Edition v4.0 will be generally available in July 2008.