mrc-Productivity Series Unleashes a Powerful New Web Application

Developers can now create complex database applications with little effort

COMMON's Fall 2001 Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota — e-business software and services leader michaels, ross & cole, ltd. (mrc) today unveiled a new capability of the mrc-Productivity Series with a live shopping cart application featured in the dealer section of its demo Web site: www.crazybikes.com/dealersarea.html. The application allows users, signed in as virtual dealers, to order products directly from the live database of the manufacturer, Crazy Bikes. The demo site is served from an iSeries and delivers real-time DB2/400 data to the Web.

The significance of this shopping cart application is the simplicity of its creation. “Normally live order-entry applications are notoriously complex to build because of the number of databases, libraries, and back-end programs that need to be integrated,” says Brian Crowley, senior developer for mrc. “However, with the mrc-Productivity Series, it's impressive how effortless it is to implement complicated applications like a shopping cart. ”

“We find that the people we talk with on a daily basis want to build exactly the kind of application we deployed for www.crazybikes.com, but often they don't know where to begin. Once we show them how easily and quickly they can build these applications themselves with very little learning curve, the response is very positive,” says Crowley

Additionally, integrating enterprise data and Web technologies with the mrc-Productivity Series means developers are not required to learn new languages for migration to the Web, the enterprise data does not need to move to an unfamiliar, possibly non-secure platform, and the development environment is not required to change.

The mrc-Productivity Series delivers Web site creation, rapid application development, and report writing capabilities and is available immediately. The product's tier-based pricing begins at $25,000. All product enhancements are free to existing customers who subscribe to the company's maintenance and warranty program.

mrc was founded in 1981 and provides software and services for the IBM iSeries and WebSphere markets. The mrc US-based and international affiliate network serves more than 4000 customers worldwide. For more information, contact mrc at 1920 South Highland Avenue, Suite 203, Lombard, IL 60148; via phone at 630/916-0662; via fax at: 630/916-0663; via e-mail at mrc@mrc-productivity.com; or via the Internet at www.mrc-productivity.com.

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PRESS ONLY: For interviews or more information, contact Heather Gately, mrc marketing manager, at 630/916-0662 or heatherg@mrc-productivity.com.