Progress Software (SIT Partner)

Progress Software 4GL and Relational Database

In 1989 Strategic Information Technology chose the Progress Software's 4GL and relational database to be the platform on which to develop Portfolio Plus. Turns out we made the right choice – for business and technical reasons. While other database and 4GL vendors (e.g. Oracle, Sybase, Cognos, etc.) clamored for direct sales to large I.T. organizations, Progress Software continued to focus on independent software vendors. It was a courageous move that paid off. Progress Software's financial model is based on a simple premise. If they can build a technology platform that enables an independant software vendor to be successful then Progress Software will derive profits as a result of royalties. The proof of this success is available for all to see in Progress Software’s financial results. Go look for yourself.

Technically speaking, the Progress relational database is very much like the architecture of the Oracle database. It is shared memory based, features record-level locking, works on multiple operating systems, can leverage multiple processors and can scale from one to thousands of users.

As operating systems came and went over the years, Progress Software stayed current and works on most major operating systems today including MS-Windows, Linux, HP-UX, AIX, Red Hat Linux and Solaris.

When the demand for web applications exploded in 1996 Progress developed WebSpeed, which is a web-based application server that can scale to thousands of users. Using WebSpeed, SIT was able to deliver web banking functionality along with the necessary performance and security required for web banking. In conjunction with WebSpeed, Progress Software also delivered an application server which enables a multi-tiered environment.

Middleware is another technology in which Progress Software has made a considerable investment. Progress Software initially created SonicMQ which is Java-based middleware, and then went a step further to set up a separate operating company to focus on technology surrounding Java Messaging Service (JMS). This company is called Sonic Software.