EJ PG WEEK NAPPLICGNTION DEVELOPMENT ki | APPLIED INTELLIGENCE | k €, Namera sn S kri jav biči! 1 Hit | m Lane | Lotus Shows Strategic! Tar rgeting of ned nca 4 nk pe si ni f pe This provides a basic mim k ll when it RE Clear that it did not. | |, visibly. Lotus' strategy is si, to ac. h This ts the sharing through consistent features, , ;/%";., mesh with the new strategy for " KI || Fomplaning a grl in orgarizaione | third in a series functions and file formats. "£' 1-2-3 development across platforms. ''' i% with mixed architectures. ii of articles on 'The second, more important part of "' However, there is growing evidence A common API called Datalens has | ic di j loped to provide bidirectional % jih the strategic di- the strategy goes beyond simple file that 1-2-3 for the Macintosh has become j been deve Hi rections that Lo- sharing, providing enterprisewide appli- ii a new priority within Lotus, particulat-;; |, access to external databases. Datalens is ; NO tus Development | cations with cooperative processing and; (:ly because the lack of a good spread- "'/''/. a key technology for all Lotus products , Corp. is pursu- distributed data. " lasi sheet, product in the Macintosh market | ing and the sig- In addition to DOS, 0S/2 and OS/2 Ex: leaves a large hole ti the Lotus cross-/|ij/ / L Release 3 has a new menu choice, nificance of tended Edition, current platforms for /ssij,/', platform strategy. : ši Hr) «| GM Data External," which opens large cor- those strategies which 1-2-3 is under development in: (4x; The cleat ea froin Lotus is that, | '| porate databases through the familiar 1- | to organizations clude IBM S/370 MVS and VM, AS/400, ii H it will offer front-end tools for major " ''. /; 2-3 interface. Lotus will provide certain planning for NeXT, Unix, Macintosh and Sun:' j / and future applications. platforms to access corporate data. Con: J Datalens drivers for key databases, but the 19905. An agreement between Lotus and Dig:/';| sistent features and functions will be: "| ži ' will rely on database vendors to develop As a matter of | ital Eguipment Corp. (DEC) to develop |], available for DOS, OS/2, OS/2 Presenta: |; additional drivers. practice, Lotus and market products for the VAX envi'/s;;; tion Manager, MVS, VM, VMS, Unix, Sun, || does not formal: ronment was announced in November As shown in the figure, Datalens tech- ly articulate its corporate strategy and :'' Macintosh and NeXT opera! tems. il nology will be applied to all versions of saten V 1-2-3, including 1-2-3/G under Presenta- goals. Its current strategy, therefore, > may become clear only after the fact. v k 1 tion Manager, 1-2-3/M under MVS or VM, Lotus' Cross-Platform Strategy | 123 for the Macintosh, Symphony re- | Still, the company appears to be follow- m h a ; | lease 3.0 and Lotus/DBMS. It will also be ing several distinct initiatives to cope Common API Provides Access to Data in a Wide Spectrum seli to m SI: Šilšcn with the complex mix of environmen! sr ži A isšjs, si | (T-A-C) and financial-services produci while Zanima for the enterprise sie Of Oper uting Environments / such as One Source. Under 1-2-3/G, dy- tems of the future. These strategic Vie, F namic links to MALE? applications can be tions include: | Created. . implementing applications that can $ | Lotus hopes to zan wide acceptance operate in a cross: platform eni: im S ; ma | of Datalens o olcey, by: zeja party ronment; Moči š <<< Enterprise Že | vendors. € protecting and extending the base of z System ; /0/ The reality is that there are zeva Lotus 1-2-3 by offering products that; .' | - | APIs from which to choose, eačh with provide superior access to corporate i Hi | its own language. Conseguently, a de data across multiple hardware plat- ' | facto standard may not evolve for some forms, including mainframes, minicom- time, but the strength of the installed puters, Unix workstations and personal -: ŽNA —eo —-— kil Datalens ii: base of Lotus users may help to 'estab- computers; ' | ommon'API a lish Datalens as a standard. " € providing a common "look and feel". : Ki - for all Lotus products; S supporting the development of " enterprisewide applications that distrib-:; ute processing and data throughout a network; ' providing for integration of Lotus" products through an application pro". gramming language and an application programming interface (API); ; ' supporting both a mixed-technology ': environment of DOS on older hardware, and 08/2 Presentation Manager and tne. new hardware reguired to run it; ' from DO to OS ani tam OSE rom Presentation Manager by providing products that work consistently under lhese operating systems; ij lz J | plications for 0S/2. e PE o o are mi h H Network versions of both 1-2:3 release readsi i 2. d mands of business analysis |. Lotus appears to be uločina Re distinci initiatives ni ned nune NE M O A paje nirket » to cope with a complex mix of environmenis, while onamki |, ferelons are oflered: ihe Standard Edi harting n for most single- licati juni danja Mesvalj Ug : jo psvp bo the Se prije applications Server Edition tat Som lali kčenoe Broup-productivity markets with prod- HK VA CrossPlatform Barrage Within the next 18 months, there should be a significant number of new products formally announced and mar- keted by Lotus for cross-platform avail-, | ability: The following are soon to be completed and released: 1-2-3/G, » Lotus/DBMS, Notes, 1-2-3/M and 1-2-3 for VAX/ VMS. The delay of 1-2-3 release 3 has backed up products such as 1-2-3/M, Lo- tus' mainframe spreadsheet, and 1-2-3/G, a graphical spreadsheet, for OS/2 Presen- | jtation Manager. 1! Undoubtedly; additional OS/2-based products will be introduced. Lotus has skin Avskai] | nearly 100 developers involved with ap- s | ij ; documen di am software and | uets sueh as Agenda aaa ! s H ' locumentation; and a license/documen- ' Notes, iča NS poči ji x s tation-only Node Edition. š i opici stated, [a ' Mixed Uni 'environments and' % /' Next discuss ln m a a orng new 12 a most likely de ii product un re er o ud ae ray ve ok ca be oe zde M and text — der development,'' > organizations today, Users are also de- ' i ito OS/2 and from OS/2 to the Presenta- ' | ke eh cia ana ihosa sobote into met The VAX is an important deparimen manding new functions of spreadsheets, d 'tion Manager. 8 | o nn under develop- . tal computing platform that allowš ii an enterprise application, spread. era vv oo € maintalning the sni pos o || spreadsheets to be consolidateti. The Wi! tod se eat Pio learn more about tke subject of iii 2 Provider of financial ee aderahio dalabane (ZDI they are h V aa izbe lame i KNeniim tegrated | artin Report, an information service | upa hole ses tiv amo he 4 | updated guarterly, at (800) 242-1240. | and marketing Current product enterprise appli-! | For 'ormation on seminars, please dnar strtega o A O EJ Gugčs obi nie rea (pena that data is) , ida) Technology Transfer Institute, | Port na dne rt ot Whleh la o Mac pinjs ij upi šne sourop should should |], ,741 10th St, Santa Monica, Calif. ' a cam m ata so | "jaz ani 1 product. dia no era ACE ke (| 90402 (213) 894.8905. In Europe, con- platforma. |, sompete well with other Macintosh