Read the reasons why you should choose WebSmart.
Only the WebSmart family of Web Development tools gives you this ease of use and flexibility - providing you with short and long-term investment value for all your web application needs.
"WebSmart overlays the central part of the iSeries Developers roadmap which is where 75-80% of our install base is today. WebSmart is one of the leading tools for developing Web applications in the iSeries space."
Doug Fulmer
IBM Worldwide Sales Executive
iSeries e-business Infrastructure
 Awards
- Winner of the Showcase Product Excellence Award – Web App Development
- iSeries NEWS Readers Choice APEX Award Application Development Finalist
- iSeries NEWS Editors Choice APEX Award Application Development Finalist
- Voted the Best iSeries - AS/400 Web and Wireless Development tool (Showcase Product Excellence Award Winner)
- iSeries News Readers Choice Apex Award Finalist and iSeries News Editors Choice Apex Award
- Finalist. WebSmart -- Superior Technology that lets you create your own solutions.
WebSmart Was Built Expressly for iSeries Web Applications
We built WebSmart from the ground up as a versatile and easy-to-use PC based iSeries (and multiplatform) development tool. It is not a screen scraper tool that tries to retrofit green-screen apps to browsers. It is not a simple RPG source editing tool with extensions to try to support web design. It is an enterprise-quality development and deployment solution with professional features such as Rapid Application Design methodology and Change Management features that produces simple or complex web, wireless or SOA/web services applications.
Utilize Existing Platform Business Logic and Rules
All existing functions should be able to be used in a WebSmart program by doing a CALL or creating new functions in WebSmart using existing RPG code. Although WebSmart does not pull in file links or data dictionary type information, rules, logic and functions can be defined in one spot within WebSmart, in the repository. The repository allows you to define field extensions which can be as simple as defining edit codes for a field to more complex extensions such as automatically adding an auxiliary file with the correct link and creating a dynamic dropdown box or doing field validation. It only needs to be defined once in a definition and any new definition will adopt these changes and if you replace the field in existing definitions the changes will also take effect. The repository also allows you do develop on your PC without having to connect to the AS/400 except to compile and prevents level checks.
Total Cost of Ownership Is Incredibly Low
The cost of WebSmart for an average sized iSeries - AS/400 single partition computer for the IDE and Web Application Server (WAS) is approximately $16,000. If you have a system that is on lower BCD tiers then the cost drops from there. BCD does have a 50% off iSeries – Web Deployment Bundle offer when combined with award winning Nexus the integrated iSeries Portal and award winning Catapult the integrated email, portal and iSeries automated report distribution tool.The license fee reduced by 50% lowers the price to approximately $16,000 making Nexus and Catapult licenses virtually free.
The IDE is for unlimited developers seats and each developer may have a development seat at work, on their laptop while traveling and at home so they can develop and email objects to themselves or others.
The WAS is for unlimited end-users connected to that iSeries - AS/400 server. Annual maintenance is 18% of the then current list price. Maintenance includes unlimited technical support, all updates, all major product releases, new documentation and full use of technical services.
Short Learning Curve
Anyone, including non-programmers, can create a full maintenance application within a few minutes that is fully functional and has a nice appearance. The learning curve is dependent on two factors: programming experience and HTML knowledge. The PML is the language for the logic and is very similar to Java and C++ in syntax. Basically if you know how to program or follow logic it is very simple to learn. We provide many examples and demo sites to help as well as help on every WebSmart function by pressing F1 from the IDE. As for the HTML, if you’re working on an intranet site you usually don't need to make many changes but if you are creating a B2B site or something similar you will probably want to make some changes to customize the appearance, or to blend in with other company sites you might have links to.
If you've never seen HTML before it appears very different because it is not a programming language. It is a formatting language that allows you to format your page by using tags to define data elements. Once you know the basic tag, which doesn’t take very long you can start creating some nice sites. We provide on-line help, color-coding, on the fly editing and a syntax checker to help you. There is also an abundance of HTML reference guides available from most bookstores.
To learn WebSmart as quickly as possible please visit our Getting Started page.
Users Testify to WebSmart's Productivity Gains
The PC Based IDE has the tools to make developers fast developers. You have templates to work from, you can modify them to become your own templates as well as create your own templates. Furthermore the IDE has lots of tools, drag and drop features and wizards to significantly speedup the entire development process. We can best explain this section by reading the user quotes:
Formica Corporation after having WebSmart for two months:
► “This was a no-brainer.” “Using WebSmart on the AS/400 seemed like the appropriate alternative” “As our requirements change, we can easily make changes to the application. It’s very supportable. The templates were very helpful for the base code, once you have the basic display logic, then we could go in and tweak it to get the things that we needed for our situation.” ”Everything that customer service came up with, we were able to make work using WebSmart.” ”This project has visibility from the CEO and Director of Marketing. Both have been active in rounding out the functional specifications.”
Formica after having WebSmart for six months:
► “In any one day we have 550 to 600 users running between 1,000 to 1,200 sessions of WebSmart developed applications on our iSeries and we have not needed to upgrade our hardware. Our system response time has actually improved since implementing WebSmart. One of the reasons is we replaced many interactive query jobs with WebSmart jobs that run in the batch subsystem. We have fewer jobs servicing the same number of users.” “I can safely say this project was a success.”
“Now that the application is Web-based, it is getting 10,000 hits per Week.” “We’re serving about 16,000 unique page hits and 18 MB of data everyday.” “We’ve decided to develop 5 or 6 more applications.”
Formica Corporation — Phil Catlin, Application Development Manager
► “We tried several products and failed. I then downloaded WebSmart, followed the directions (short, thanks I needed that) and had the HTTP Server up and running in 15 min. I then loaded the developer program on my PC, started it up, took on one of the templates, used one of my files on the AS/400, hit the compile button and I fell out of my seat as it worked!!! No experience necessary. We used WebSmart without any formal training and had applications up and running for our Agent Information Retrieval Portal in less than 5 days. Every one of our guys said that it’s just plain fun to use and easy. Pass the word on, it really works!”
Frontier Computer Services, Inc. — Steven C. Ferguson, President
► “I had a need to present AS/400 data in a browser. I looked at IBM's WebSphere but it's costly and cumbersome to maintain. I looked at CGIDEV and actually created some pages using it. But it's still very labor intensive from a programmer's standpoint." "Then I looked at WebSmart. I actually loaded the product, ran through the tutorial AND, get this, had my availability web page (for our multi-store kiosks) up and running in a single morning! This product is nothing short of amazing. I'm hooked and don't want to look back. By the end of the second day I had created a P.O. for BCD's WebSmart."
"I'd recommend this product to any AS/400 programmer. It's fast to learn, the response time in screens is subsecond and the results look polished right out of the box… Give it a try"
Lamps Plus — Chuck Ackerman, MIS Director
► “I demo’ed BCD’s WebSmart product and in 3-4 hours after installing the product (no training, just reading the manual) I had developed a working application that mirrored one of the Domino production applications. The Domino app took over a month to complete. Now we can bring our development back in house and keep the expertise, and develop and modify our own Web presence. The technical support has been excellent."
EGS Electrical Group — Don Erickson, Manager IS
Technology RPG Developers Truly Understand - Buy the Technology or the Solution
WebSmart is technology iSeries technicians truly understand. IT staff with or without web experience quickly understand it. Unlike WebSphere and some other tools where the learning curve is significantly longer and have hardware restrictions and no central site for technical developer phone support, WebSmart doesn’t have any of those issues. It does not ‘eat up’ hardware resources like WebSphere. WebSmart can install and run successfully on even the smallest AS/400 or iSeries.
It is also positioned as both Solution and Technology play. 10% of WebSmart clients hire a consultant to write an application or extend an existing iSeries apps. Later, the customer continue extending the application themselves because they understand the tool.
WebSmart is an easy-to-use tool that is quickly learned and produces fast results, insulating developers from the complexity of web application development, allowing them to concentrate on using the tool to help develop the app: be it an intranet, extranet or internet e-commerce app -- any app where iSeries data needs to be accessed from a web browser. WebSmart enables them to develop secure robust apps right on the iSeries that are served directly into a web browser without the need to use other platforms and middleware, which can introduce higher costs, more complexity, other security issues, and additional administrative and support overhead. However, the WebSmart JSE allows you to use other platforms to host the server.
iSeries Security
The iSeries is the ideal platform for serving iSeries web applications as it is completely secured. We have written an eleven page White paper entitled: “Why Web Applications Deployed with WebSmart Are Totally Secure and Safe for iSeries Web Serving”. This White Paper helps iSeries IT staffs fully understand the issues of security and how WebSmart addresses them.
Security Issues -- This white paper will address the following security issues:
- 1. Saving secure information on the client using encryption
- Sending secure information back and forth from client to server using encryption
- Saving secure information on the server using encryption
- Prohibiting unauthorized access to the web server.
- Prohibiting unauthorized access to OS/400 objects (programs, files, data areas, libraries, etc.)
- Preventing DOS (denial of service) or DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks such as ping floods or HTTP request floods.
This white paper may be accessed at http://www.bcdsoftware.com/websmartsecwp.htm
Change Management
WebSmart Change Management is included with the product and provides many benefits to developers.
Centralized control over the location of definitions.
- Definitions are all stored on the iSeries, thus more likely subject to backup procedures and easier to find and manage.
- Central location and control also allows for definition locking. This prevents multiple developers from working on the same definition at the same time.
- Easier access to definitions when connecting to the iSeries remotely – no need to use FTP to download a definition locally- instead, simply access it directly from the IDE.
Managing development environments.
- Definitions can easily be migrated from one development environment to another. WebSmart refers to these as 'Sets'. You have complete flexibility over the configuration of each set. You can also perform mass compiles, mass import or mass export of definitions to/in a set.
- The import feature lets you easily define a change management environment for existing development projects done in WebSmart.
- The export feature makes it easy to move whole applications to other systems for development work.
Modification tracking and logging
- Automated logging tracks all access and operations on definition. All activity that takes place on a definition can be reviewed, providing a complete and accurate audit trail of your development efforts.
- Change Management supports definition archiving. Different versions of definitions can be archived, then restored or compared to other archives or to the current version of the definition. This provides a convenient way for you to perform incremental development work, with different stages of possible rollback to earlier code bases of your application.
Highly Reliable -- Adaptable -- Extendable
Reliable:
The AS/400 HTTP server is an excellent and very solid web server that has been around for a long time. The AS/400 virtually never crashes and is known for it's lack of viruses which makes WebSmart a very reliable product since it runs off the 400's HTTP server. WebSmart 3.0 has just been released and from our continual list of updates we prove that we are committed to continually improving WebSmart and meeting our client's needs. Here is a list of new functions in the last 2 months alone.
Adaptable:
Virtually anything that can be done on the web including XML, JavaScript, HDML is supported in WebSmart making it very adaptable. There is also a Java Servlets Edition add-on feature - WebSmart JSE that allows you to generate Java Servlets in addition to CGI/RPGILE. This extends our commitment to multi-platform support that users have wanted making WebSmart truly versatile for both iSeries and multjplatform applications.
Extendable:
We continually add new functions as described in the list above and allow users to create their own functions, which makes WebSmart completely extensible. The same is true for adding your own repository extensions and extending the templates. Two SQL templates have recently been added to take advantage of SQL, which can be used as the program logic instead of PML.
BCD, a trusted industry leader for over 30 years
For 30+ years, BCD has provided IBM Midrange Computer, PC and Web users with innovative productivity products in the areas of iSeries and Web Application Development, iSeries Web Portal Management, iSeries – Web Report Management and Business Intelligence tools. Our strengths include providing customers with advanced technology products that are easy to use, affordable, robust, well documented, that come with excellent support.
We cater to all size iSeries-AS/400 shops from the smallest, with only one or two developers, to the largest shops. Well recognized companies such as: Starbucks, CompUSA, Formica, Goodyear, Universal Music, Canadian Kawasaki, Dole… These companies and 1000+ others have selected WebSmart as their product of choice for iSeries web application development.We've made it affordable for all iSeries shops with the Free Nexus iSeries Web Portal. We introduced iSeries Web Deployment Bundled pricing (that includes WebSmart IDE, WAS or JSE, Nexus Portal and Catapult iSeries Web reporting) making it affordable to bring even small projects to the web and keep iSeries-AS/400 shops right where we all want them -- on iSeries-AS/400 equipment.
We have committed our efforts and energy to increasing IBM Midrange programmer and end-user productivity, and we have accomplished just that. We have successfully installed over 28,000 products to a worldwide midrange customer base of over 12,000 customers. We are an IBM Business Partner, IBM ServerProven vendor, Partner World advanced status partner and Tools-Net partner. In addition over the years, BCD has won 35 industry awards for our product line. We have 30+ International Business Partners. BCD is also the iSeries News longest running consecutive advertiser having advertised full pages every month for over 21 years. We are proud of that achievement as it definitely demonstrates the test of time and innovation.
- Winner of 35+ Industry Awards, including 11 for Best Web, and iSeries - AS/400 Development tools
- Software that makes the most of People and computers
- 12,000+ customers
- 28,000+ products sold
- IBM Business Partner
- IBM Tools/Net Partner
- IBM Partner World Advanced Status
You will find in BCD; stability, innovation, support and industry leadership to successfully propel your organization into iSeries - Web and Browser based application development, as well as other platforms.
Reduces CPU dependencies on iSeries - AS/400
WebSmart automatically creates CGI/RPGLE programs that are 100% compiled programs that run 100% in the Batch sub-system. This dramatically reduces resource usage on the AS/400 because WebSmart created jobs DO NOT utilize interactive resources. This allows you to often utilize existing hardware without needing to do expensive hardware upgrades. CGI jobs run and end very quickly, normally one to two seconds, then leaving the job in a ‘sleep mode’ until the next request, using virtually zero CPU in between requests. Therefore you can have many more users utilizing fewer number of jobs. The WebSmart Server is a passive server that does not utilize any resources to run.
It is also possible to have a development AS/400 box and different AS/400(s) to run the applications. Another option is to run programs from one AS/400 and access data from a different AS/400. WebSmart also uses Named Activation groups, which reduces CPU by storing commonly used functions in memory by holding all your functions. These points have saved some organizations from $20K to $200K in upgrades.
Utilize existing platform data (DB2)
A document entitled Leveraging Legacy Code can be found at this link: http://www.excelsystems.com/websmartlegacyapps.htm
In short, this document expands on 3 possibilities of using existing code:
- Use the CALL function to call any existing program on your AS/400 with the option to pass and receive parameters.
- Create your own functions within WebSmart using your existing ILE RPG code.
- Modify the templates to include calls to any program on your 400 such as a security check.
Excellent Technical Support
At any given time during normal business hours there are a technical staff of 20 ready to assist clients. Qualified support reps actually answer the phones on the front-line providing solutions immediately to the caller. No queues, no voice mail, no call backs to deal with before you speak with someone qualified to assist you. Support staff will also do product walkthroughs over a live web connection. BCD encourages customers and those evaluating WebSmart to call support if they have any questions small, middle-level or large. For all BCD products we process over 15,000 support calls per year.
|
Selection Criteria
