Mpower1
International Presents:
The
jBASE User Conference 2007: Post Show Recap
On
May 22-25, 2007 jBASE developers, users and partners from the United States,
Mexico, Canada, Ireland, England, Denmark, Hungary, India and France attended the
2007 jBASE User Conference at the Miami Beach Resort & Spa in Florida.
This year’s
offering covered
a wide range of
topics including core
functionality,
product
direction, technical
tips and plenty of Q&A time with the actual developers of the jBASE product
set.
The
conference began Thursday morning with a continental breakfast during
registration. Attendees were able to reminisce with old acquaintances, meet
new friends, and discuss the agenda for the upcoming conference.
Pete
Loveless, CEO of jBASE International, opened the conference with a “Welcome
Keynote” reviewing the current state of jBASE International as a company,
the benefits of its relationship with Mpower1 and TEMENOS, changes and updates to the company and community since the last conference,
and future plans.
Directly following Loveless’s Welcome was "jBASE
& TEMENOS", a presentation delivered by
Clive A
Ketteridge.
Ketteridge was co-founder
of jBASE Software in 1989 and is today the Database Strategy Director of The
TEMENOS Group where he also acts as general manager of jBASE. Clive
explained the reasons behind the 1999 TEMENOS acquisition of the jBASE product
and company and explained how
the opportunity that jBASE technology
provided
allowed TEMENOS to position itself as a
serious market leader by expanding its ability to pitch to 100% of its
targeted market. In fact, since the 1999 jBASE acquisition, TEMENOS has grown
from a $25 million dollar company to a predicted $290 million dollar company
this year. Ketteridge
showcased some of the 300+ major businesses now running jBASE on a daily basis
including MKB Bank in Hungary, an 1100 user jBASE Release 4 site running over
500,000 transactions a day!
After
a morning coffee break, the conference was split into breakout sessions. Dan
Ell of jBASE International Support gave an overview of all the major
enhancements included in jBASE 4 including Internationalization, jQL BASIC
functions, XML functions, jPLUS files and built-in SQL functionality in “Using
the New Features in jBASE Release 4” followed by an overview of the jBASE
database and the advanced design that drives it in “jBASE
Tips & Tricks – Understanding the jBASE Database”.
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Simon
Rees,
jBASE International Support Manager, gave
attendees advice and
recommendations on configuration, best practices, performance tuning and
maintainability in “jBASE
Application Profiling – How to Analyze your Application”.
Attendees
learned how jBASE 3.4 and jBASE 4.1 differ including a discussion of the new
jcompile command in jBASE 4.1 and the options available for use with it;
together with the new ability within jBASE 4.1 to create compiled jQL
statements in “Advanced
Compilation Techniques”,
also delivered by Simon Rees. After
a scrumptious three course lunch, which was generously sponsored by The
TEMENOS Group, there were more breakout sessions.
Dan
Ell’s “Enhancing the jBASE
environment – Advanced Techniques for Customizing jBASE” session discussed
advanced changes that can be made to the jBASE environment to greatly enhance
your system. This session also discussed, in-depth, jBASE interaction with the
underlying operating system which included customizing login scripts and
using redirection and other operating system level commands. |
"We've been involved with
MultiValue systems for more than 25 years and have been associated with
jBASE since version 2.x. The ongoing comittment and partnership between
jBASE, Mpower1 and TEMENOS has created an exciting environment that
finally gives our company the ability and credibility afforded to
"mainstream" development companies."
-Sal Tarantola
Advance Vision Systems
|
In a
session specifically tailored to arm Help Desk staff who communicate with the
end-user, “Supporting jBASE”,
Dan Ell covered the techniques used to get to the root of a submitted problem
- what questions must always be asked and what steps should always be taken.
|
Simon
Rees demonstrated the openness of the jBASE architecture with a real world
application of a C/C++ wrapper in jBASE in “Integration
of C/C++ programs with jBASE” where attendees learned how to develop an
interface from jBC and how to implement it in jBASE.
David Peters,
jBASE Sales Executive, highlighted the range of added value solutions for application
development and database security made available from the Mpower1 group of
companies in “jBASE Add Ons &
Solutions: Built for the way you work!” These range from enhanced
security provided by the DREM Data at Rest Encryption through to classic
MultiValue 4GL development “with a twist” using OSMOSiS and advanced
middleware technology with jRCS and mv.NET.
|
"Thank you for the conference. It was a great opportunity to network
with others, put some faces with the voices we talk to all the time, and
learn more about the products. I look forward to the next conference!"
-Richard Kann
Comp-Ware Systems, Inc.
|
After
an afternoon snack sponsored by Ashwood Computer, all attendees took part in
a general session presented by Simon Rees & Dan Ell, “Fast
Track: Migrating to 4.1.5”. Discussion centered on the thread-based 4.1.5
release and how it differs from 3.4 as it pertains to converting existing 3.4
systems. The session conceptually covered the changes needed to convert along
with new functionality and environment changes which include jBASE startup,
licensing and .profile/remote.cmd changes.
|
Thursday began with a continental breakfast and lots of coffee for those who
had stayed out too late the night before! The breakout sessions began with
Pierre Lagrange, Digital Family, who presented “jBASE: A View from France”
which explained the process and decisions which have successfully launched
jBASE into the French marketplace. jBASE alumni, Lee Burstein of Dynamic
Systems, delivered a session “Getting
the Most from SQL” where he explained how Release 4.1.5 adds the
SQLSELECT command to the jBASE user's bag of tricks allowing SQL access to files from
the command prompt. |
Click to enlarge
Lee Burstein delivers a session on SQL |
Next
up was Martin Bailey, jBASE Product Manager at the TEMENOS Group, with “Product
Development and Support” where he explained the ins and
outs of the jBASE product development cycle.
By gaining an insight into how jBASE
development operates, customers found out how they can plan more effectively
for roll outs & upgrades and even learned how to get fixes to their issues in a
faster timeframe. Opposite Bailey was Alex Lashchuk of Rilex
Computing Technologies, LLC who presented a session on
"jBASE Remote
Connectivity Services" which delved into the inner workings of this true
client-server connectivity library which leverages the power of jBASE.
Dan
Ell explained how to literally “save the day” in a session on "Transaction
Journaling" which explored everything from a quick simple day-saving setup
to in depth planning of transaction logging techniques, hot-stand-by
configurations, and the latest in transactional management methods. Opposite
this was Simon Rees’ session, "jBASE
Optimizing Techniques" which covered everything from "system-level"
changes such as file sizing, the use and misuse of indexes and simple
data-structure rules to advanced BASIC techniques and designs.
|
After a lunch in the Oceanview pool front
conservatory, the afternoon sessions were given by Martin Bailey and Simon Rees. The "jBASE
Product Roadmap" session focused on current enhancements as well as
revealed changes in the upcoming jBASE
Release 5, a
64-bit implementation including features such as warm start recovery,
resilient files, auto-resizing files, online backup, OBjEX.Net and more.
During these remarks
it was disclosed that jBASE 4.1.5 and Release 5 will be
supported until at least 2012.
Attendees
saw a sneak preview of jBASE Release 5, and offered some suggestions to be
included in future releases. Knowing a sneak preview is never enough,
Martin Bailey's next session was entirely devoted to "jBASE
Release 5" and he walked attendees through the new features
with
plenty of time for questions and answers! |
Click to enlarge
Martin Bailey and Simon Rees
discuss jBASE's product roadmap |
After
a much needed snack break, sponsored by International Spectrum, the final
sessions of the day were presented by Rick Weiser of DesignBais and Simon Rees
of jBASE International. Weiser explained how DesignBais International's
tools enable jBASE developers to design and create enterprise wide web-based
applications with no knowledge of technologies such as Java, JavaSript, HTML,
ASP, XML, SOAP or AJAX required in "Migrating
Legacy Applications to the Web" while Simon Rees presented tips and
techniques for configuring and using the jBASE Data Provider for integration
with standards-based tools (ODBC, OLE DB, etc.) in "jDP:
Tips and Techniques".
|
After two days of intensive sessions, it
was time for a break. All attendees were welcome at the Gala Dinner
which took place in the Skylight Rooftop Ballroom
showcasing panoramic ocean
and city skyline views. Ian
Leeper, Director of Mpower1, gave a brief speech where he thanked the
conference delegates and presenters and announced plans for the next jBASE
User Conference.
Taking place in two years time on the west coast of the USA, it promises
to be even bigger and better than this years. More emphasis will be placed
on hands on workshops and interactive demonstrations and he called upon
users to showcase their real-life "Powered by jBASE"
implementations.
Following
the dinner with entertainment provided by a popular South Florida flamenco
guitarist, attendees met in the Bistro Bar for an impromptu jazz piano
performance by Martin Fritter of Strategy 7!
|
Click to enlarge
Mpower1 Director, Ian Leeper,
tries his hand at the piano!
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jBASE
would like to extend a special thank
you to TEMENOS, Ashwood Computer Inc. and
International Spectrum
for their support and sponsorship of the jBASE User Conference!
