Borland Software Corp., a global vendor of open application lifecycle (ALM) solutions, has just released Together 2007, a new visual modeling platform designed for partners and end-users in the business and developer market space.
The line up of Borland Together products has been around for the past eight years and its latest 2007 release helps to simplify business processes and requirements. Marc Brown, vice-president of marketing at Borland, says the overall objective with Together 2007, is to place more of an emphasis on the modeling and visualization aspects of the solution.
“There are so many areas in organizations that still aren’t using visualization enough,” Brown said. “This is usually because they’re so complex. What we want to do with the Together product line is remove some of that complexity to bring the notations of the industry into a single tool so businesses don’t have to use multiple tools.”
Together 2007 incorporates and provides support for unified modeling language, business process modeling notation, entity-relationship and domain specific languages, all using a single tool. Brown highlights that the product can also support multiple people within an organization and because of this flexibility, he says, the product has been very well-received since its initial launch. Some new and enhanced capabilities for Together 2007 also include business intelligence and reporting tools reporting and visual brainstorming notation, which can be tailored to meet specific business needs.
In addition to Together 2007, Brown says Borland has also developed a DSL (domain-specific language) toolkit that helps a company tailor its business process model, as well as helps them to define a specific domain and language that compliments the business domain.
Richard Gronback, co-leader of Eclipse Modeling Project and chief scientist at Borland, says the software is an Eclipse desktop application and says it was one of the first modeling platforms based on Eclipse 3.3.x.
“It’s a fairly technical product,” Gronback said. “But there are certain aspects in the tool that helps newer architects [and developers] use it and there’s more advanced features for even the most advanced user. It’s a solution that’s really able to suit a lot of needs because it’s customizable.”
Brown mentions Borland is hoping to target two markets with the launch of Together 2007.
“We’re trying to appeal to the business community,” Brown said. “And we’re going to continue to focus on our architects and lead developers and so on, which tends to be our more established market.”
Borland’s partner network is made up of three different partner groups which include, global SIs, regional SIs and solution and service providers. Currently, he says there are eight partner relationships in Canada which are made up of SIs and solution partners. Brown adds that Borland’s partner strategy is to proactively seek out partners first rather than waiting for partners to approach them.
“We’re fairly happy with the coverage we have in North America,” Brown said. “But we’re always looking for unique partners that can help us expand our brand. There are also other regions in the world where we hope to grow in the marketplace. This includes the Asia-Pacific region and some countries outside of France, Germany and the U.K.”
Partners are supported by Borland through a number of different ways through various training sessions that can either be taken on-site or on the Web, in addition to margins which Brown says sit comfortably in the double-digit range.
“I’d say generally margins range between 20 to 30 per cent with our solution and service providers,” Brown said. “We also work with a lot of partners who are already resellers of HP and IBM products. We’re open to them continuing their relationship with those other vendors as they continue to work with us.”
