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Server will handle applets

Object Design will launch a new version of its ObjectStore database with the ability to store, manage, and retrieve Java applets.

Mike Ricciuti Staff writer, CNET News
Mike Ricciuti joined CNET in 1996. He is now CNET News' Boston-based executive editor and east coast bureau chief, serving as department editor for business technology and software covered by CNET News, Reviews, and Download.com. E-mail Mike.
Mike Ricciuti
2 min read
If the predictions come true, Java application development soon will be commonplace in Fortune 500 IS departments. That means developers will need software to help them store and manage Java applets, hopes database software maker Object Design (ODIS).

The company next week will launch a new version of its ObjectStore database with the ability to store, manage, and retrieve Java applets, according to the company.

ObjectDesign is one of the few object database makers to successfully establish itself as a tool for Web site development and hosting. The company is expanding, through Java support and other features, in an effort to stay one step ahead of the big database software companies, such as Oracle, Sybase, and Informix Software, which are gradually adding support for object data types.

ObjectStore 5.0, which will ship next week on Windows NT and Solaris operating systems, will also include an ActiveX development interface, meaning that developers using Microsoft's Visual Basic and other Windows tools can call up data residing in ObjectStore and combine multiple object types in a single Windows application.

The database server will also include better data replication abilities and failover technology that allows the database to automatically switch over to a standby server.

The Java support in ObjectStore matches existing support in the company's ObjectStore PSE embeddable database announced last fall. Both Microsoft and Netscape Communications have licensed PSE for use in their software.

ObjectDesign will also update two tools that work with ObjectStore. Inspector and ObjectForms let database administrators and end users query the database server "graphically" and generate HTML based on stored objects. Both tools have been extended to work with Java.

ObjectStore is priced from $3,800 per server. Inspector costs $1,250 per developer license, and ObjectForms is priced at $3,500 per developer license.