Open Applications Group Showcases Industry's First Common Integration Approach for Enterprise Business Applications

12 September 1995 - Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Today the Open Applications Group, Inc., demonstrated applications which conform to the industry's first specification to integrate enterprise applications from multiple vendors. The demonstration was based upon the Open Applications Group's evolving specifications which will allow customers to integrate applications from different vendors and other sources.

Six vendors -- CODA Group, PLC, Dun & Bradstreet Software, J.D. Edwards & Company, Marcam Solutions, PeopleSoft, Inc., and SAP AG -- demonstrated the Open Integration Application specification at a proof of concept event today at the Cambridge Marriott Hotel. They demonstrated several scenarios which included the ability to integrate one vendor's inventory application into another's general ledger application.

"Today we are demonstrating that the Open Applications Group specifications can be used to integrate applications from multiple vendors and other sources," said Paul Margolis, president and CEO of Marcam Solutions, and Open Applications Group chairman, "This event makes it clear that the Open Applications Group members are doing the work necessary to enable real multi-vendor application integration."

Each vendor has written application programming interfaces (APIs) to the Business Object Document, a message format specification developed by the Open Applications Group. Architecturally, the Business Object Document consists of two parts: the control area and the business data area. The control area communicates the "business server request" to another application , and the business data area contains all the data and control information necessary to process the request.

"Once you have the ability to put diverse, best-of-breed applications together, you also have the ability to automate over a much broader scope than is feasible using a single monolithic application," said John Mann, The Yankee Group, Boston. "The general approach taken by the Open Applications Group -- letting applications or application components send requests, information and other events to each other -- has a long and successful history in both integration diverse applications and in implementing large, complex systems. It will be exciting to watch the Open Applications Group as they work to prove these concepts."

Fifteen software vendors have joined the Open Applications Group to date, including: American Software, Baan Company, CGI Informatique, CODA Group, PLC, Dun & Bradstreet Software, IBM Manufacturing Solutions Unit, J.D. Edwards & Company, Marcam Solutions, Measurex, Oracle Corporation, PeopleSoft, Inc., SAP AG, Siemens Nixdorf Information Systeme AG Line of Business Application Software, Software 2000, and Walker Interactive Systems.

Other Open Applications Group projects underway include the development of specifications for the integration of enterprise systems with other applications outside the enterprise, and for the integration of specialized applications and enterprise business applications within the enterprise.

The Business Object Document specifications will be introduced at the end of 1995. New or enhanced vendor products that incorporate the specifications are expected to be available during 1996.

A white paper was published in June which serves as the Open Applications Group blueprint for current and future work. Copies are available by contacting Open Applications Group Headquarters at 312 527 6799.

The Open Applications Group, Inc. is a non-profit consortium of enterprise application software developers, formed in February 1995 to create common standards and to integrate business applications. Open Applications Group standards are complementary to interoperability work currently underway by other standards organizations such as the Object Management Group (OMG) and X/Open. For more information contact: Open Applications Group Headquarters, 401 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-4267. Telephone: 312 644 6610; FAX: 312 321 6869.