Applications /

Cysive aims to make apps device agnostic

By Kathleen Ohlson
Network World, 10/15/01

RESTON, VA. - After eight years as a Web integration company, Cysive next week will enter the commercial software market with tools for building and supporting applications that end users can access regardless of the devices they use.

Cysive, which had been called Alta Software before going public in 1999, has configured business systems for the likes of Cisco, United Parcel Service and Circuit City.

The company's new development tools and middleware, called Cymbio, is designed to let businesses build applications that sit on application servers and interact with back-end applications, such as those for accounting and logistics. The applications built with Cymbio can be accessed by users of desktop PCs, wireless devices and voice-activated devices, among others. Currently many applications work only with specific access devices and must be rewritten to work with others.

For example, a transportation company using Cysive software could build applications for tracking its trucks and orders from the field via a phone, Web browser or PDA. Cymbio-built applications feature a function called FollowMe that would let businesses transfer a transaction, from say a browser to a PDA, and pick up where the transaction left off. It also would identify the device being used and deliver data catered to that channel.

Cymbio lets business applications, such as those for accounting, accept electronic signatures through Java Authentication and Authorization. It supports HTTP and WML, as well as Web services standards - XML and Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition.

Cysive CEO Nelson Carbonell says businesses building applications with Cymbio can define and change application rules within minutes, and the changes can be automatically performed throughout all channels.

The company is targeting Cymbio toward transportation, financial services, healthcare and logistics businesses. Its competitors include BEA Systems, Aether Systems, Aligo, Covigo and Briante. Carbonell claims Cysive's competitors can't deliver applications to as many devices.

Philips Medical Systems, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, implemented Cymbio to track blood pressure, scale and electrocardiogram devices in the field. The company supplies diagnostic imaging systems, including X-rays and patient monitors, to hospitals, physician offices and outpatient clinics.

From information collected by engineers, nurses and suppliers, Cymbio compiles a list of what's available, problems and failures, and why devices were uninstalled.

"It's a lot of trouble to keep track of what's failed and what's returned and shipped out, and it doesn't make sense to re-enter information two or three times," says Cynthia Pacheco, Philips' operations manager for e-care services.

Pacheco says Philips is working on integrating its order entry system with equipment referrals for patients, tracking orders at the first stages to implementation and usage, as well as voice recognition capability.

Pricing for Cymbio is CPU-based and ranges from the low six figures to the millions of dollars.