By Marilyn Gris
I.T. Project Manager, Mohawk College

Web and wireless were the key technologies receiving attention at the SpeedExpo 2000 conference hosted at the beginning of May in Montreal, Canada, by the SpeedExpo International User Group.

Speedware Corporation seems to be focusing their attention on the market’s hottest technologies. Much of the company’s energy is currently being spent on their Internet-related development tools such as Autobahn II and Mobile Dev. Speedware users are captivated by these products as was evident from the number of sessions related to these topics.

Conference tracks were divided into three categories:

The Web development track, focused primarily on Speedware’s newest release of their Web application development product, Autobahn II. Other presentations included:

• Success stories by organizations who have Web-enabled applications using Autobahn,

• Developing browser-based systems documentation,

• Successful electronic commerce solutions, and

• A sneak peak at Speedware’s latest development tool, Mobile Dev, used to create wireless applications.

Users following the core technology track saw:

• The latest initiatives for the HP e3000 platform,

• Various options for hosting a Data Warehouse on the HP 3000,

• How to use Speedware products with Oracle and MS SQL/Server databases,

• How to write efficient Speedware code, and

• What’s new in the latest release of the Speedware RAD Suite (formerly known as Classic Speedware) version 7.06.

Hands-on sessions were also given on Speedware’s Autobahn II and Visual Speedware development products, as well as Robelle’s Suprtool reporting tool for the HP 3000.

Presentation slide files can be found on Speedware’s Web site under the SpeedExpo 2000 conference event.

Hot Topics

Chris Koppe, Speedware’s Director of Wireless Business Development, gave a rousing presentation on the latest in wireless technology accompanied by a demonstration of Speedware’s new wireless application development product, Mobile Dev. Koppe showed a large audience how easily Mobile Dev can be used to create a wireless application. Speedware Corporation employees are already using a Mobile Dev application and their WAP-enabled cell phones to submit expense claims. Koppe said Mobile Dev is the first development tool of its kind, and fully supports all WAP standards, HDML and WML interfaces, and Java, Perl, Active Server Pages and other Internet languages.

Robert Gignac, a consultant with Fioravanti-Redwood International, presented a very animated session on electronic commerce. He provided a common sense approach to building an e-commerce solution without talking about the underlying technology. Examples of his own online shopping experiences were not only entertaining, but applied directly to the points being made about turning a profit and focusing on the consumer to foster customer loyalty.

Advocacy

Besides the excellent presentations, one of the more valuable aspects of the conference was the Speedware Advocacy meeting, which was held in two parts.

The first part gave users the opportunity to gather with Speedware Vice President of Research and Development Garry Ciambella and Product Coordinator Mark Kabbas to suggest and discuss enhancements to the Speedware RAD Suite (formerly Classic Speedware). Forms were distributed to allow users to prepare requests in more detail and submit them to Speedware for compilation.

The second part of the Advocacy meeting was held on the last day of the conference. Ciambella reviewed more than half of the items on the drafted list, identifying those requests which Speedware would implement or would consider implementing in a subsequent version of the product. A completed list will be available on the Speedware Web site and the Speedware discussion mailing list (speedware@listserv.santarosa.edu) by mid-June.

Free Training

Speedware also treated conference attendees to a free two-day post-conference training session on Autobahn II. At least 40 people attended this intensive hands-on experience with the vendor’s new Web application design software.