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No. 53, 2004
MA
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NEWS | SOLUTIONS | FEATURES | FROM AROUND THE MAGIC WORLD
PAGE 8LEARN ABOUTMAGIC’S NEWTOTALCUSTOMERCARE (TCC)DIVISION
PAGE 6A LOOK TO THEFUTURE -AVIKAM PERRYMAGIC CTODISCUSSES THEFUTURE OFMAGICSOFTWARETECHNOLOGIES
PAGE 8LEARN ABOUTMAGIC’S NEWTOTALCUSTOMERCARE (TCC)DIVISION
PAGE 6A LOOK TO THEFUTURE -AVIKAM PERRYMAGIC CTODISCUSSES THEFUTURE OFMAGICSOFTWARETECHNOLOGIES
PAGE 14SEE iBOLT INACTION!
PAGE 14SEE iBOLT INACTION!
Dear Magicians,
his special release of the Magic Magazine is beingdistributed at Magic’s traditional annual Kickoff
event, taking place this year in Eilat, Israel’s beautifulresort town on the shores of the Red Sea.
The 2004 Magic Kickoff, with over 350 people inattendance, celebrates two distinct, although related,events – conclusion of a successful 2003 and the beginning
of what will be an ambitious 2004. Indeed, 2003 was a good year for us, ayear that saw all our plans and hopes come to fruition, the return of MSEto profitability, the well received launch of the new iBOLT family of products,and the growth in revenues.
2004 will present a new dimension in Magic’s activity. Our aggressive plansfor 2004 call for accelerated investments in iBOLT, continued enhancementsin eDeveloper, special emphasis on strategic partnerships with market leaders,and the inception of Magic’s new TCC (Total Customer Care) Division thatwill, we hope, introduce a new culture of improved customer care across thecompany.
The 2004 plans present a bold and courageous effort of management andemployees from both the field and corporate headquarters, committing tohigher achievements and aggressive targets. As always, I’m confident that thepowerful combination of our proven technology and our skilled and dedicatedcommunity will make us once again winners.
Best regards,
Menachem Hasfari, CEO,
Magic Software Enterprises Ltd.
I N T H I S I S S U E F R O M T H E C E O
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Magic Software News ...........................3, 12-13
Magic Software to enhance Web-basedjuvenile tracking system for the State ofWashington ...................................................3
Magic Software subsidiary CoreTech secures$2.2 million contract with leading globalpharmaceutical company ............................3
Magic Returns to India ................................12
Magic Webinars update ............................12
The Magic Software Event in France -September, 2003 ........................................12
The strategic evolution of the BPM space ...........................................................13
Magic Software Around the World ............4 - 5
Marketing Update .......................................4Magic Goes Hollywood ................................4The New Mission of the EMEA ....................5
Technology Spotlight .............................6-7, 13
Interview with Avikam Perry
iBOLT Portal
The strategic evolution of the BMP space
Total Customer Care (TCC) .........................8 - 9
Interview with Eldad Shen-Tzur, MSE’s TotalCustomer Care (TCC) Division Manager
MSP Update Project - How We Touch
iBOLT in Action ........................................10 - 11
Implementations Around the Globe ......14 - 15
In Focus: Medway Ports charts a clear coursewith eDeveloper
Fantoni: Designed for success
Paz Gas: New contract to computerize gasdistribution systems
Editor:Steven Arnold
Design:Doron Dekel
Consultant:Lea Ronen
Editorial Consultant:Malcolm Palmer
Contributing Authors:Alain DuboisAvigdor LuttingerEyal OrgilAndy PeartYana Persky
oreTech, a wholly ownedsubs id i a ry o f Mag i cSoftware, has closed a new
two-year $2.2 million contractto provide support services toone of the world’s largest globalpharmaceutical companies.In this outsourcing engagement,CoreTech will provide supportservices to a growing client basewhich stands today at around7,000 end users. Havingdemonstrated solid technicaland service capabilities alongwith high degrees of flexibilityand client focus in past engagements withthis customer, CoreTech was requested towiden the dimension of the services itprovides and extend the contract for an additional two years.
“Pharmaceutical companies are under pressure to streamlineoperations, increase efficiencies and improve results while increasingthe speed of product development and approval of patents,” saidMark A. Redlus, CEO of CoreTech Consulting. “We provide thequality outsourced services that enable companies to free up their
IT resources to focus onstrategic initiatives and businessgrowth.”
By working with CoreTech,this leading pharmaceuticalorganization has been able tooffload a tremendous amountof end-user support from itsown IT staff.
According to analysts at GartnerDataquest, spending forsoftware and external servicesin the U.S. pharmaceutical
industry will outpace spending forhardware, network equipment and internalservices. They have projected that by 2005,
outsourced service spending is expected to account for 58 percentof total external spending.
Companies interested in finding out more about CoreTech’s projectstaffing services can visit www.coretech.com or send e-mail [email protected].
M A G A Z I N E 3
M A G I C S O F T W A R E N E W S
C MAGIC SOFTWARE SUBSIDIARYCORETECH SECURES $2.2 MILLIONCONTRACT WITH LEADING GLOBAL
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANYExtended Outsourcing Engagement To
Include Support Services For Around 7,000Users
agic was awarded a contractvalued at close to $850,000to p rov ide s e cond -
generation enhancements to theWeb-based Juvenile andCorrections System (JCS) forthe Administrative Office of theCourts (AOC) for the State ofWashington. With capacity forup to 10,000 users, the JCS is targeted for state-wide integrationby Washington's juvenile court system, including juvenile detentionfacilities in 39 counties.
"The JCS being implemented by the AOC is a great example ofcomplex integration across a wide variety of state and localgovernment infrastructures,” said Menachem Hasfari, ChiefExecutive Officer of Magic Software. “We are very pleased thatthe State of Washington has once again selected Magic Softwareto provide enhancements and capabilities to the JCS.”
The JCS to be delivered underthe contract will replacean existing COBOL-basedmainframe application. It willbe integrated with AOC’sexisting applications, which runon an IBM OS/390 mainframeusing DB2 as their database. Inaddition, the solution will be
deployed using browser-based clients in order to minimize remotesystems management. Among the enhancements to the JCS willbe risk assessment reports, detention alerts, warrant status andoutcomes, and a snapshot view of any juvenile within the systemstate-wide.
The intent is to provide those with a need and right to know, asmuch useful information as possible in order to enhance theperformance of juvenile justice statewide.
M MAGIC SOFTWARE TO ENHANCE WEB-BASED JUVENILE TRACKING SYSTEM
FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTONInitial Deal Valued At Around $850K
Magic Goes HollywoodOren Inbar, ManagingDirector, Magic SoftwareUSA
odak Theatre is the crown jewel of theHollywood and Highland entertainmentcomplex located in the heart of historic
Hollywood. Since opening in November2001, the theatre has hosted a range ofprestigious artists and events including theAcademy Awards® Ceremonies, CelineDion, Prince, Elvis Costello, Barry Manilow,American Ballet Theatre, Moscow
Stanislavsky Ballet, AFI Life AchievementAward to Tom Hanks, and more. What youmay not realize is that the theatre managersutilize ABI MasterMind™, an eDeveloperapplication written by Advanced BusinessIntegrators, a Magic Solutions Partner fromSacramento, California.
In fact, quite a bit of the behind-the-scenesbusiness in Hollywood is managed by Magicapplications. In the television sector of theindustry, for example, one of the threemajor television networks utilizeseDeveloper to develop the applicationsthat track information for all of its televisioncommercials. Since networks run 24x7, theapplication must manage data that changesconstantly and is critical to networkoperations.
M A G I C S O F T W A R E A R O U N D T H E W O R L D
M A G A Z I N E 4
K
By David Leichner, VP WW Marketing
arketing is working overtime in Magic Software to getthe word out about iBOLT and eDeveloper. For 2004,we are working on new collaterals, new advertising and
of course, a new series of Webinars, which are back, bypopular demand. These Webinars will be held in conjunctionwith MSPs, system integrators, alliance partners, and industry
analysts. Speaking of industry analysts, iBOLT has been raising some eyebrowsat the leading analyst groups.
In fact, just the other day, the Meta Group released its METAspectrum forEnterprise Application Integration. Magic Software was positioned as a seriouschallenger amongst industry players such as SAP, BEA, Oracle, Vitria, Tibco,
and others. The difference being that Magic Software hasonly been in this market for 8 months!!! This shows thestrength of iBOLT.
Magic Software was positioned in the challenger segment of the METAspectrumanalysis, and was specifically recognized for its strength in providing a hybridsolution that combines application integration and application developmentand the ability to leverage XML Web Services standards to bring new, standards-based products to market. Magic Software was also highlighted as the onevendor included in the analysis that is primarily targeting mid-size enterprisesand the iSeries installed base.
In another recent report from the Giga Group (now part of Forrester), it wasnoted that Magic iBOLT represents a good functional integration solution ata reasonable price and is particularly well suited to the mid market.
Giga analyst Henry Peyret noted that “We can positionMagic’s iBOLT and eDeveloper technology as a long termtechnological investment as an application, presentationand process integration platform as defined in a recent Gigaresearch publication. The target audience will be medium-sized companies aswell as larger enterprises that have a mix of J2EE, .Net and mainframe (iSeriesfor example) applications and are looking to begin their integration effortswith a small initial investment.” Peyret noted that iBOLT compares well toGiga’s Application Integration Foundation (AIF) model, with particular strengthin the areas of connectivity and data transformation.
In addition to the analyst attention, media mentions are flowing in at a rapidpace. Periodicals such as Database Trends and Applications, Business IntegrationJournal, The Four Hundred, and eServer Magazine are only a few of themagazines taking notice of iBOLT, eDeveloper, and Magic Software. Makesure to visit the Magic Software website www.magicsoftware.com for all thelatest media mentions and analyst coverage.
Marketing Update
M
In fact, many of the famous Hollywoodfilm stars you are familiar with benefit fromthe eDeveloper applications being run bythe Screen Actors Guild (SAG), anothereDeveloper customer. As a labor guild, SAGis required to administer benefits to itsmembers and receive their dues.
Hollywood is more than TV and movies,however. It is also a center for the musicindustry. Here again, another eDevelopercustomer, Warner Music Group, has utilizedeDeveloper to help build a trackable archiveof all its music rights and licensing – anenormous undertaking involvingmillions of constantly changingrecords.
These are just a few examplesthat let you see how “MagicGoes Hollywood.” Theentertainment industry is butone visible example of thefoothold that Magic SoftwareEnterprises has established in NorthAmerica. So please join me in shouting‘Hooray for Hollywood’ as I take thisopportunity to thank all of our manycustomers for your continued business andsupport.
The New Mission of theEMEARegev Yativ, ManagingDirector, Magic SoftwareEurope
would like to dedicate this note to ournew mission in 2004, which is a directderivative of Magic Software’s strategy
to grow its business next year.
As of Jan 1st 2004, allScandinavian, Eastern andCentral European, and MiddleEast Basin (Turkey, Greece)territories were added to the
management of MSE EMEA.As of this date, our partners,
distributors and business associates
in these regions joined ourEMEA family, a dynamic group
of 130 professionals, determinedto work hard to increase our mutualbusiness in newly added territories.
ObjectivesMagic decided to make this change inorder to achieve the following mainobjectives: • Increase Magic’s market exposure in all
these territories and intensify fieldwork.• Enhance customer and partner care and
increase the synergy between Magic EMEA’s fully-pledged offices (130 employees and 8 MSE offices throughout Europe - in London, Munich, Paris, Budapest, Milan, Madrid,
as well as Benelux and EMEA HQ in The Netherlands) and Magic’s distributors, MSPs, SI’s and partners.
• Capitalize skills, customer reference, and capacity throughout the EMEA region, and increase our ROI – both Magic’s and its partners.
• Increase our involvement and improveMagic’s support to enable significant business and revenue growth in all EMEA territories.
Structure - HighlightsTo meet our objectives, we made thefollowing decisions about structure andmanagement responsibilities:• We divided the entire EMEA area
into 6 Regions and established 6 regionaloffices to improve focus, time-to-market,and operations.
• We established a new Business Development Unit situated in EMEA HQ in the Netherlands, that will be
fully dedicated to improve our networkand deliver revenue growth, hand in hand with our partners.
• We have taken the necessary operationalsteps in the regional offices to serve customers and partners better.
As you can see, a lot has happened in thelast quarter of 2003 in preparing for thechallenges we have taken upon ourselvesfor 2004. We are certain that these changeswill gradually bring the desired yield forthe entire Magic community.
Please don’t hesitate to make any commentsor suggestions and bring forward new ideas.Please write to me:[email protected]
M A G I C S O F T W A R E A R O U N D T H E W O R L D
M A G A Z I N E 5
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M A G A Z I N E 6
agic Software Enterprises’ solution suitenow offers a full and comprehensiveportal solution with the addition of the
iBOLT Portal. The iBOLT Portal is a fullyfunctional Web portal infrastructure thatcan be deployed as part of an iBOLTintegration solution or as a stand-aloneportal.
Portal solutions have been gaining inpopularity over the last few years as theyprovide a convenient and efficient way toprovide customized and personalizedinformation to various user groups. Froman enterprise point of view, portals enablebetter decision making by providing userswith access to timely, accurate, and relevantinformation from various resourcesthroughout the organization. Informationretrieved from portals can also be presentedin a logical, consistent, and personalizedmanner that best suits the user.
iBOLT Portal can provide a single point ofaccess to:• Integrated and stand-alone applications
• Knowledge• Content• Search engines• Workgroup collaborations
Out-of-the-box PortaliBOLT Portal provides a quick and easyway to set up and deploy a portal. An out-of-the-box configuration is standard withiBOLT Portal, simplifying implementationand making enterprise resources availablealmost immediately.
This pre-configured ready-to-deploy portaloffers enterprises all of the basic featuresand functionality needed to start serviceprovision, including advanced content
Magic Magazine had the opportunity to talk with
Avikam Perry, VP Research and Development and
Chief Technology Officer of Magic Software, about
the future direction of Magic technology.
MM: Version 9.4 was released about 6months ago. How has it been accepted byeDeveloper users? Are they making themove to 9.4?
AP: This version has been accepted as thebest version 9 yet, and has received greatfeedback regarding its new functionality.There are thousands of developers alreadyworking with V9.4, and many of whomare already at the deployment stage. Thereare still a lot of people who haven’t yetdiscovered the power of this version and Ibelieve that during the next year we willsee more eDeveloper users upgrading.
MM: What major advancement did V9.4provide?
AP: From the beginning, the message ofV9.4 was the ability to be “absolutely open”.In designing the version we tried to dealwith every issue related to eDeveloper’sability to communicate with othertechnologies. This version’s openness givesdevelopers easy access to industry-standardcomponents, such as Java classes, COMobjects, XML and Web Services, as well asnew data types to support the standards.In parallel, we also provided a way forthose technologies to access us.
Interview With Avikam Perry
M
management, user administration, searchcapabilities, and presentation templates.Enhancements to the portal can be madeeasily using a built-in portal toolkit.
Meeting Various Users’ NeedsIf you need to support a variety of usergroups, iBOLT Portal provides completedeployment flexibility. Enterprises canchoose to deploy one central portal, thatsecurely serves all user communities(employees, business partners andcustomers, and the general public) or deploymultiple portal servers, each serving anindividual user community.
Grow with DemandiBOLT Portal employs advanced cachingmechanisms, multi-threading mechanisms,and distributed configurations,enabling the portal to easilyscale to support an increase inusers, data volume, or Web
activity. A single portal implementation cangrow and expand along with the needs ofthe organization.
M A G A Z I N E 7
T E C H N O L O G Y S P O T L I G H T
MM: What new features and functionalityare planned for the next version and whenwill it be released?
AP: The next version will enhance oursupport for SOA (Service-orientedArchitecture) and composite applicationdevelopment. The next version willconcentrate on improving client (Browserand Windows) functionalities, along withimprovements in data-manipulationcapabilities. The next version willintroduce a new source managementmechanism.
MM: Magic has been an ApplicationDevelopment tool provider for over 15years. What was the reasoning behindentering a new market – the businessintegration market?
AP: In the past 10 years, the IT industrymoved away from proprietary applicationsand moved to shared applications, suchas ERP, CRM, etc. This created the needfor connectivity, componentization, andeventually to the growth of accessibilitystandards. eDeveloper had to provideconnectivity as well as enhanced data-manipulation capabilities to deal with thenew demands. It’s only natural thata server-based tool with exceptionalconnectivity capabilities like eDeveloperwould be an excellent player in theBusiness Integration market. eDeveloper
was a very good base for iBOLT, and theissues left for iBOLT to deal with wereintegration project orchestration and theencapsulation of the connectors andadaptors bundled with the product.
MM: What differentiates iBOLT from otherBusiness Integration and BPM products?
AP: I think the main difference with iBOLTis its orientation. iBOLT evolved from anapplication development environmentthat provides enhanced business logiccapabilities, interoperability, and a widerange of functionalities enabling it to dealwith any IT need.
MM: Why did Magic decide to aim iBOLTat the medium enterprise market?
AP: The current iBOLT positioning is basedon market analysis and our confidencethat we can break into the EAI marketand be a competitive player in terms ofprice, performance, and capabilities. Ourbig advantage is that we can complete anintegration project much quicker, withfewer resources than others in the marketand at an affordable price. Other playersin the EAI market also try to targetmedium-sized enterprises, but high projectcosts prevent them from becoming majorplayers.
MM: SOA integration is what everyone inthe industry is talking about. Does iBOLTsupport SOA integration environments?
AP: The fundamental iBOLT designconcept was SOA support. SOAprinciples are based on business-functionencapsulation and the exposure of businessprocesses as Web Services. iBOLT providesa service-oriented approach to achievedistributed computing that promises aflexible environment and leads to higheragility.
SOA support in iBOLT is provided fromthe business process modeling level downto the integration flows and components.Each business activity and resource canspecify a Web Service as an interface andthereby create a service hub to consumers.
MM: What other advanced functionalitycan we expect to see from iBOLT in 2004?
AP: The next iBOLT version will increasethe Business Process Management (BPM)capabilities and provide an enhancediBOLT Studio improving the relationshipbetween the modeling and developmentenvironments. It will provide enhancedbusiness process modeling functionality,enhanced support for Java componentdevelopment, remote server tuning, versioncontrol, enhanced Monitor functionalities,data mapping, and much more.
MM: What exactly is TCC?EST: TCC stands for Total Customer Care.TCC is a combination of the CustomerRelationship Management (CRM)philosophy coupled with the vision ofdeveloping and expanding a long-termrelationship with the existing Magiccommunity. It is a general philosophy whichstates that the customer and theirrelationship with Magic is a primary focusof Magic’s activities for the long term.
MM: Which departments will be includedin the new TCC division?EST: The TCC contains two existingdepartments: International TechnicalSupport and Operations,with a matrix
relationship to the Internal Sales people inthe branches. These entities are in constantcontact with the Magic Community andhave direct access to the customer. Theyare in the best position to identify andaddress the Community’s needs and tomanage the resolution of any open issues.
MM: What are the goals of the TCCdivision?EST: There are short-term and long-termgoals. The short-term goal is to identify theareas where the Magic Community can beserved better and to address any immediate
M A G A Z I N E 8
T O T A L C U S T O M E R C A R E
TCC
Interviewwith EldadShen-Tzur,MSE’s TotalCustomerCare (TCC)DivisionManager
INTERVIEW
needs that we discover. The long-term goalis a lot broader. We want to create acorporate culture where the customers’needs are the primary focus and where thenumber one goal is to build long-lastingand strong relationships with the MagicCommunity.
MM: Why is this division being formedtoday?EST: In today’s highly competitive anddynamic market, technology choices aremade not only based on technologicalsolutions but also on personal relationships
and the vendor’s ability todeliver products,
fea tures ,
and solutions that the marketdemands. We at Magic recognizethat we need to be in constantcontact with our community, andto identify and supply solutions tomeet their constantly changingneeds and requirements. Over theyears the Magic community hasbeen loyal to us and with ourfocus on TCC we are confidentthat this commitment willcontinue.
MM: Can you provide a fewexamples of the work that theTCC division will do?
EST: For starters we are going to let thePartners know that we exist and what wecan do for them. We want them tounderstand that we are the central addressfor all their issues. A major part of this ishaving the TCC representative in eachbranch contact all our partners to introducethemselves and to explain how they canbenefit from the TCC program. We wantthe partners to understand that we are goingto be proactive, meaning that we will initiatecontact with them to listen, understand,and address their needs. If we uncover aproblem or even a potential problem wewill initiate a call to the customer and tryto assist them.
MM: How would you measure the successof this program?EST: The only true measurement of successwill be the customers themselves. If theycontinue to be happy with the companyand our products, we will have beensuccessful. Obviously we want the customersto utilize the TCC division to help themsolve their problems, but we will be happierif the problems don’t arise in the first placeand if potential problems are avoided oraddressed before they escalate. As Imentioned before, the goal is to create acorporate culture that addresses ourpartners’ needs and to prevent majorproblems from occurring.
MM: How can someone contact the TCCif they have an issue?EST: Our email address [email protected]
T O T A L C U S T O M E R C A R E
M A G A Z I N E 9
MSP Update Project -How We TouchMagic HQ recently completed an updateof our MSP List and Solutions Directory.The goals of this project were to updateexisting partner information, updatesolutions in the solutions directory, andto use this opportunity to “Touch” ourclients. The project was accomplishedby telemarketers contacting the MSP’s
in their local languages and asking themto provide us with their most currentinformation.
The project was extremely successfuland has provided us with an updatedpartner list, new solutions in oursolutions directory, and a significantamount of feedback from the partners.This information has already beenforwarded to the TCC representative inthe individual branches for follow-up.
Please take the time to visit the solutionsdirectory and learn about the latestsolutions developed by our partners.For our partners, please remember toperiodically update us with any changesor additions to your company orsolutions.
This can be done by visiting:www.magicsoftware.com/solutions.
In December 2003, MSECEO Menachem Hasfari
announced the formationof a new division called TCC
– Total Customer Care.Heading the new divisionwill be Eldad Shen-Tzur.Magic Magazine had theopportunity to ask Eldadsome questions about his
new role and the TCCDivision.
M A G A Z I N E 10
i B O L T I N A C T I O Ni B O L T I N A C T I O N
Magic Software And TER S.R.L.Announce GovernmentIntegration and DevelopmentProject Valued at Over $1 Million
Magic Software and TER S.r.l., adevelopment and integration serviceprovider in Southern Italy, announcedthe signing of a major governmentintegration and development projectvalued at over $1 million.
TER S.R.L will use Magic Software’siBOLT and eDeveloper businessintegration and application developmenttechnologies to provide small businesses inItaly with an online enterprise portal thatwill offer them personalized accounting,CRM and management tools andapplications, in an ASP model.
Rapidly Solving Critical Business Integration Challenges
B&C International Selects iBOLT From Magic Software toStreamline their Procurement Systems
Magic Software announced the closing of another iBOLT deal,with the signing of an iBOLT business process developmentand integration project with B&C International in TheNetherlands.
B&C International specializes in the assembly, sales anddistribution of high-quality window fashion products in both
made-to-measure and standard sizes. Every year over 2 millionwindows are decorated with B&C's products. With over 7,000 retailers in itsnetwork, B&C is faced with a very complex procurement process. Orders comein many shapes and sizes, with varying volumes, large quantities of raw materialsand semi-manufactured products. iBOLT (www.magicsoftware.com/ibolt) willbe used, initially, to streamline the efficient process of ordering and payment formaterials purchased to fulfill these product orders.
Magic Software and Avesta Sign Partnership Agreement to Deliver iBOLT forEAI and BPM Solutions to the Mid-market
Magic Software, a leading provider of state-of-the-art integration and developmenttechnology, announced an agreement with Avesta Computer Services Ltd., a global systemintegrator based in Jersey City, New Jersey, who will become an iBOLT Integrationpartner. With this agreement, Avesta joins a growing list of system integrators worldwide
that have signed up as partners to help deliver businessintegration services using the iBOLT applicationintegration framework from Magic Software Enterprises.
With offices in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California,Hong Kong and India, Avesta is a leading systemintegrator and outsourcer specializing in customizedsolutions for large and mid-sized organizationssuch as Bank Of New York, Cisco Systems, MerrillLynch, EDS, Pfizer and HSBC Bank.
With iBOLT, Avesta is gaining key technologiesfor customer solutions in enterprise applicationintegration (EAI) and business processmanagement (BPM).
Magic Software and Voigt Software Announce iBOLT Partnershipand Major Integration Win
Magic Software announced the signing of an iBOLT Partnership agreementwith Voigt Software, a leading German provider of software solutions to theliquid gas industry. Voigt is quickly realizing the benefits of iBOLT and hasalready won its first project to create a federated application architecture fora major liquid gas company in Germany.
In this initial project win, Voigt will utilize iBOLT as the strategic integrationand development platform. The project involves the integration of existingfinance and CRM applications, with a vertical ERP system developed by Voigtwith eDeveloper.
Voigt Software is one of the leading suppliers of software solutions for theliquid gas industry in Germany. Voigt’s software solutions are installed at over60% of the companies in this market.
M A G A Z I N E 11
i B O L T I N A C T I O N
SVP Group to Utilize iBOLT, From MagicSoftware In Major BusinessIntegration Project Valued at Over$1.5 Million
Magic Software announced the signing ofa major iBOLT deal with the French SVPGroup, a global leading provider of businessadvisory, research and consulting services.The overall value of the project is expectedto exceed $1.5 million.
SVP is an innovative knowledge servicescompany that offers a full suite of custombusiness intelligence, advisory, andconsulting solutions to address clients'critical business issues worldwide. Theyhave chosen the iBOLT Integration Suiteas the primary integration and businessprocess development framework as part oftheir strategy to provide their clients withtimely information and customizedintegrated solutions.
Magic Software and ESI Join Forces To Strengthen iBOLT’s Business Process Management Functionality
Magic Software announced that it has joined forces with Expert Solutions International (ESI), a leading supplierof business rules engine (BRE) technology, to strengthen the business process management (BPM) functionalityof its iBOLT Integration Suite.
In this partnership, Magic Software will promote ESI's Logist knowledge-based decision-making business rulesplatform as part of its iBOLT Integration Suite. In line with market trends, the combined offering will simplifythe handling and challenges inherent in complex business scenarios and enable organizations to more easilyimplement a real-time enterprise while increasing business agility.
To learn more about iBOLT go to: http://www.magicsoftware.com/ibolt
Magic Software and GruppoEngineering Sign iBOLT Integrationand Reseller Partnership Agreement
Magic Software and Gruppo Engineering,one of the leading system integrators inItaly, announced the signing of an iBOLTintegration and reseller partnershipagreement for the Italian EAI market.
As part of the integration and reselleragreement, Gruppo Engineering will activelypromote iBOLT inside their existinginstalled base.
Magic Software Delivers iBOLT Business IntegrationSolution to King Companies
Magic Software announced that King Solutions, a subsidiary ofKing Companies, Inc. has purchased Magic’s iBOLT IntegrationSuite for Supply Chain Automation (SCA).
King Solutions offers supply chainintegration services to map workflow chartsthat integrate existing software programsand business partners with King’s SupplyChain Management application. Thisintegration service provides King Solutions,their partners and customers with the abilityto track vendor PO information, componentinventory, daily outbound activity, andinvoicing. Under the terms of the agreement,Magic Software will provide the iBOLTIntegration Suite, maintenance, support,and training to King Companies.
Magic Software and Dutch SystemIntegrator ISDC Sign StrategicPartnership for iBOLT Integration Suite
Magic Software announced the signing ofa strategic partnership with ISDC, a leadingDutch System Integrator to become aniBOLT Integration partner. With thisagreement, ISDC joins a growing list ofsystem integrators worldwide that havesigned up as partners for iBOLT.
ISDC is a leading system integrator in theNetherlands specializing in customizedsolutions for large and mid-sizedorganizations. Since 1990 ISDC has beenfocused on delivering cost efficient solutionsbased on Magic Software’s eDeveloperrapid application development anddeployment technology. With iBOLT, ISDCis expanding its focus into the area ofbusiness integration and processmanagement.
hough the Internet bubble has burst,the global economy achievedtremendous productivity gains by
adopting and integrating Internettechnologies. Web-based commerce forcesenterprises to increasingly operate in “real-time” mode, both in management(monitoring and responding to business changes) and in operations(data and physical processing).
Since the late 90's, large Fortune-1000 enterprises streamlinedtheir operations and invested heavily in Application Integrationand eBusiness, leading in part to the Internet boom. Mid-sizedand small enterprises are forced to follow suit to stay in business.Dealing with giants like Ford or GE requires a B2B link betweenthe respective IT systems, implying application integration andprocesses automation in the smaller enterprises. This meansexposing significant parts of internal systems to externalorganizations, and understanding the external organizations’operational plans. Business processes must be synchronizedwithin the enterprise and between enterprises. More and moredata is becoming “processable” so that companies can use
knowledge-management and decision-support tools to further improve theorganization’s response to the changingbusiness environment.
Information Technology has beendescribed as a kind of Enterprise Nervous
System. However, a nervous system is useless without sufficientand timely data. We could not function if our sensory input hada 10-minute delay, yet most enterprises have at best a three-month delay in their “sensory” input, i.e. their quarterly results,and even this data is partial and lacks detail. An enterprise couldachieve greater efficiency if it could “feel” and act in real-timeby having a pervasive and integrated information system.
Magic Software’s technology is ideally placed to answer theseneeds. The iBOLT and eDeveloper combination provides theintegration and development platform to bring together multipleapplications, streamline existing business processes and configurenew ones, reuse existing applications and investments, andrapidly add functionality at a predictable (low) cost.
THE STRATEGICEVOLUTION OF THE BPM
SPACE
n December 2003, Magic Softwarekicked off its return to India with awell-attended conference held in
Mumbai.
Magic Software India plans tosignificantly increase its number ofpartners in India to market eDeveloperand iBOLT.
MSE India, which already has a growinglist of active channel partners, is activelyrecruiting new partners including systemintegrators, independent softwarevendors, consulting companies andcorporate IT departments, value-addedresellers, applications service providers,and sales partners.
Meir Koren, regionalsales manager-ASPC,Africa, said, “We striveto deliver a technologythat can be usedefficiently and canincrease the ROI of ourcustomers and can beresold by our channelpartners. Our business activities are basedon both direct sales (to large customers)and to developing channel partners foriBOLT including system integrators andconsulting firms. For our developmenttool, eDeveloper, we are looking forpartners, such as software houses and ITdepartments. These activities are designedto help Magic achieve significant growthin India as well as providing our channel
partners with themeans to achieve rapidgrowth and to succeedin an ever-changing anddynamic market place.”
Additionally, MagicSoftware is openingthree training centers
in India at Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore.
“India is a huge market for IT technology,and our target segment will be the smalland medium enterprise” said Koren.
To learn more about MSE India pleasecontact Meir Koren:[email protected]
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The MSE India team
The Magic SoftwareEvent in France -September, 2003
n September Magic France held anextremely successful event, offering anopportunity to learn about the new iBOLT
Integration Suite. Alain Dubois – Directorof Marketing Magic France tells the storyabout how this event came about.
“During the summer Jean Jacques, MDMagic France decided that he wanted tohold a large event to introduce iBOLT toFrance. The first step was the logistics – weneeded a location that could accommodateour needs and the Paris Expo and itsbusiness center at CNIT at Paris-La Defencewas chosen – it gave us great pleasure tonote that they were reserving rooms andservices using software developed ineDeveloper by Magic France!
The second challenge was the caterer - thereare no true events in France without a
serious lunch. We turned to one of ourcustomers, Raynier Marchetti for help.It was an experience to exchangecustomer/supplier's roles with one of ourpartners and it definitly enhanced ourrelationship.
With the logistics out of the way we neededto focus on attracting the customers. Wesearched all of our databases and with thecommitment of the French sales team wewere able to personally invite over 1,000contacts, and this was accomplished despitethe scorching heat of the Parisian summer.
September 8th, 2003, D-day -1: There aremore than 170 subscribers and thediscussion in the MSE France corridorsis “How many will really show uptomorrow?”
September 9th, 2003,D-day 9 am:Everything is in place, computers arerunning, the room is brilliant, and thecustomers come to get their badges …80,100, 120, 150 appear with a smile and aneagerness to learn more about MagicSoftware’s latest innovation.
Show time: JeanJacques and Regevopen the event. Ourconsultants, Saadand Jérome, presentand our guests take
notes, interrogate,and appreciate.
2 pm: There is realactivity in the placeand the lunch
(including the wines) provided anopportunity to discuss and better understandMagic solutions.
It is now the turn ofthe Giga’s analysta n d A v i g d o rL u t t i n g e r t ointroduce iBOLT.
The customer wants to know more, andJérôme confirms all of our claims with alive demonstration.
6 pm: Cocktail: Themoment of truth!
To see all the peoplearound the bar andto hear the hubbubof discussion, proves that the event was asuccess: “Come to see me quickly”, and“when will we have a similar event in myregion?” “I have a customer who wants toknow more about iBOLT and integration”were common themes discussed.
9 pm: We willultimately measurethe sucess by thesales generated atthe event, but forthe moment it is the
satisfaction of the customers that showsthrough and faces filled with the hope ofnumerous iBOLTprojects in the nearfuture.
Magic Webinar Updateollowing on the success ofthe Magic Autumn WebinarSeries, Magic Software is
continuing its informative andeduca t i ona l Web -ba s ed
seminars, commonly know asWebinars. The Webinars are aimed
at technology specialists and businessdecision makers. They focus on latest
industry trends and the newest MagicSoftware products and features, and allowparticipants to interact with industryexperts.
Over the past 4 months Magic has offeredover 18 Webinars in English and Germanthat have covered topics ranging from“Understanding Business ProcessManagement” to “What’s new ineDeveloper” and have been co-sponsoredby industry leaders such as IBM and ebizQ.
The continuing series will include relevanttopics in English, German and French.Additionally, all of the previous Webinarscan be viewed through our Archives.http://www.magicsoftware.com/home/webinars/archive.jsp
To learn more about the Magic Webinarseries or to view the current schedule visithttp://www.magicsoftware.com/home/webinars
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FANTONIDesigned For Success
he Fantoni Group produces a range ofproducts, such as office furniture, walls,melamine panels and papers, laminates,
floorings, sound-deadening panels, andresins. The company is involved in all levelsof the manufacturing process, includingproduct design, the creation of newmaterials, research and development, andof course the manufacture of the finishedgoods. The Fantoni team works tirelesslyin the pursuit of the “total design” concept.This is accomplished throughextensive experience, perfectedknowledge, and theconstant pursuit ofi n n o v a t i o n i na r c h i t e c t u r e ,research, productsynergy, and respectfor and protectionof the environment.
IBM has always been a major componentof the Fantoni Group’s technologicalinfrastructure. IBM’s AS/400 platform,
today known as the IBM iSeries, is thestrategic core of the company’s informationsystems. A constant internal evolution droveFantoni’s EDP IT division to build aninformative proprietary system and keep itup-to-date with the latest IT trends. WhenEDP had to adapt a critical part of theinformation system to Y2K compatibilityand provide a new graphical interface, theysought out a new development solution.
EDP chose eDeveloper based on the tool’score strengths, short development timeeven with complex solutions, integrationwith existing databases, same developmentenvironment for Client/Server and Web
solutions, reliability, rapidmaintenance, and ongoing
support of emergingt e c h n o l o g i e s .eDeveloper alsoallowed the rapidu p d a t i n g o fapplications andm a n a g e m e n tprocesses from ag r e e n - s c r e e n
environment to a Client/Server solution,maintaining the integrity of the DB2/400database.
Since 1997, EDP, with initial assistancefrom Magic Italy and later from local Magicpartners, has improved and updated thecompany’s information systems, whilemaintaining efficiency and dramaticallyreducing maintenance and new processdevelopment costs. The Fantoni Group’sIT architecture, based on a head office andthree remote locations, consists of one IBMAS/400 machine, two IBM iSeries machinesand 25 Servers on remote and localnetworks, with over 280 Clients. The Webapplication’s infrastructure is managed byinternal personnel and uses advancedtechnologies for security, such as LDAP,iChain, and centralized anti-virus.
The solutionThe company requirements were to createa Web-based solution for developing itsinformation systems and to integrate thecompany’s back-end systems. eDeveloper’sextensive and proven expertise in this areaconvinced Fantoni that this was the bestsolution. Solution partners Jo Soft and 2BSoft, strategic advisers in Fantoni Group’sapplicative and management area,developed in a short time a solutionanswering al l the “supply chainmanagement” challenges, significantly
MEDWAY PORTSCHARTS A CLEARCOURSE WITHeDeveloper
ith a throughput of almostthree million tonnes ofvehicles, timber, produce,
and general cargo each year, Medway Ports’Sheerness and Chatham docks are a vitalshipping distribution artery for the southeast of England.
Medway Ports is the Port Authority for the27 mile stretch of the Medway River – fromit’s mouth to Allington Lock – controllingthe movement of all shipping in and out ofthe river.
As one of the UK’s most frequently usedports, Medway Ports needs reliable back-end systems in place to help it control andmanage the river. With off-the-shelfproducts not fitting the bill, the companyopted to develop their own applications toreplace mainly paper-based systems.
Although Medway Portswere already using anapplication developmenttool, this was specificallydesigned for the IBMAS400. This did work atthe time, but the companywas keen to find adevelopment tool whichcould be used on multipleplatforms and integrate with externalsystems.
“Medway Ports needed a rapid applicationtool that could help us write programsquickly, in a completely controlled way,and develop our support system internally.
We had to make no assumptions about whatsoftware was being used on the receiver’sPC,” Medway’s MIS Manager, MikeDendor, says.“But speed and productivity of thedevelopment application was vital as well. We wanted to create an event drivenprogram that could run as things were
happening. I needed ourprogrammers to be ableto write objects veryquickly that could reactto problems and eventsvery quickly, but doingthis without using lots ofdifferent applications.”
To help them decidewhich developing tool to use, they lookedat three companies. However, they hadalready had a demonstration from MagicSoftware and Magic’s eDeveloper hadconsistently won on the speed front.“As well as seeing the obvious productivitybenefits with Magic Software, we
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improving the existing processes. Thesolution’s success and the Supply Chainapplication’s impressive output andperformance persuaded EDP to chooseeDeveloper to develop its Web applications.
The presence of a SAP application was anadditional test in which eDeveloper showedpowerful integration capabilities in acomplex structure. eDeveloper enabled SAPprocessing with many complex andadvanced IBM iSeries technologies.
The new technologies and functionalitythat are available with the latest eDeveloperversion, V9.4, convinced EDP to study thefeasibility of upgrading to the new release.Till recently, 90% of EDP’s Client/Serverprograms were developed in Magic 8.3.
The success of the testing allowed EDP toimmediately begin the upgrade process.
G. Rossi, Fantoni Group IT managerconcludes: “Thanks to eDeveloper, Magic’stechnologically advanced powerful andversatile tool developed for the iSeriesplatform, and supported by professionalsolution partners, the company can workin a more integrated way and offer quickand efficient service to the end user”.
PAZ GASMagic Software AnnouncesNew Contract ToComputerize Gas DistributionSystems For Paz Gas WitheDeveloperInitial deal valued at around $500K
agic Software, announced that it haswon a new contract to computerize thegas distribution systems for Paz Gas,
the largest gas company in Israel. The initialvalue of the deal is around $500K.
In conjunction withlong-term partner,Bashan SoftwareSystems, whichspecializes in the gas sector, Magic willprovide Paz Gas with an automatedeDeveloper-based system for distributionand agent management. The solution willhandle the distribution of gas to customersacross the country. It manages the entireprocess from the point of order, throughdelivery and invoicing.
The distribution solution will provideservices for eight regional offices and aroundone hundred and fifty users, and willintegrate with existing Paz Gas systems.
“This win is an excellent example of howwe join forces with our partners, such asBashan Software, to bring quality solutionsto leading companies such as Paz Gas,” saidEran Kaplan, Managing Director of MagicSoftware’s Asia/Pacific operation. “Ourpartners provide excellent domain expertise,Magic provides project management andtechnical expertise, and the customerreceives the solution they need to maximizetheir business efficiencies.”
M
particularly liked the people and wereinterested in their future strategy and wherethey were going with the eDeveloperproduct,” Mike says.
Using eDeveloper, Magic set up a pilotproject for the programmers at MedwayPorts to use over six months. eDeveloperallowed the four dedicated programmersto rapidly write programs in small blockswhile at the same time giving them anopportunity to design and analyse efficiently.
Having used previous versions of Magicwithin the organisation, the initialapplication that Medway developed usingeDeveloper was a web-based berthingsystem for ships travelling in and out of theport, now known as the Vessel MovementDisplay (VMD).
VMD provides full transparency of whatis being shipped in and out to MedwayPorts’ customer base, partners, agents andshippers, local people and authorities.
Since, Medway Ports has used eDeveloperto create numerous other applications,and currently uses accounting, creditcontrol, and three stockmanagement systemsdeveloped using Magic inaddition to the VMD rivermanagement system.
“Magic, in our eyes, is thebest kept secret in theIT world,” Mike says.“Magic’s eDeveloper hasdelivered Medway Portsa significant increasein product iv i ty bydramatically reducingprogramming effort andthe number of instructionsand rules needed, whilesimplifying the maintenance process.
“The integrated development environmentfor both e-business and client/server hasmeant that we have eliminated the time
and expense of having to either retrainexisting staff or outsource Web developmentefforts instead. Using Magic allows us to
develop client/server andWeb-based applicationswithout recourse to anyother development tool –no other technology couldoffer this and it is atremendous benefit to us.”
Medway Ports is nowlooking to the future witheDeveloper and aredeveloping a DespatchOrder Entry solution toreplace an aging AS/400based legacy system whichwill save them hours ofadministration time. The
new Despatch system is just the start,Medway plan to use eDeveloper to helpthem improve other sub-systems to reflectnew business processes within the port.
to be continued on back page
A Formula Group Company
Copyright © 2004
Magic Software Enterprises Ltd.
Part # 4800-23000
Magic Software provides the information in this Magazine as is and without anywarranties, including merchantibility and fitness for a particular purpose, in no eventwill Magic Software be liable for any loss of profit, business, use, or data or forindirect, special, incidental or consequential damages of any kind whether basedin contract, negligence or other tort. Magic Software may make changes to thisMagazine and the product information and prices at any time without notice andwithout obligation to update the materials contained in this Magazine.www.magicsoftware.com
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Medway Ports Charts a Clear Course with eDeveloper Continued frompage 15
“We are really pleased with the way we work withMagic, they are hugely supportive to us. Our philosophyis one of service – first class service is what has grownthe port and Magic helps us do this and keep ourcustomers very happy,” concludes Mike.
Magic SoftwareBranches/Subsidiaries
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