Tools wrap: Sybase, Cape Clear eye data modeling, BPEL

Sybase later this year will ship PowerDesigner 11.0, an enterprise data modeling tool for building or re-engineering business processes and aligning business and IT goals, according to the company.

The tool approaches metadata integration from different paradigms, such as UML, business process analysis, and data modeling. It can help bridge gaps between the business end-user and the IT department and adapt to changes in business conditions, according to Sybase.

The product features a new information liquidity model to support replication and data movement and metadata management. A model-driven approach is provided for designing mobile database and synchronization with central databases.

“The information liquidity model is a new model that we have invented unique to Sybase that documents the transformation and movement of data,” said David Dichmann, senior product manager for PowerDesigner at Sybase.

Other features include:

* Impact analysis, in which impacts of business or technology changes are evaluated.

* Requirements management, to accelerate time to project completion and ensure more accurate results. Designs are attached to requirements for better traceability, according to Sybase.

* Business process analysis, in which business processes can be better designed by understanding their relationship to underlying application and data.

* Enhanced data modeling, through support of the latest database engines and features such as Web services and XML in the database.

* Enhanced UML support, incorporating support such as J2EE 1.4 and Web services patterns and templates. Providing a mechanism to document code in object-oriented languages, UML can provide an abstraction of Java code. Also, code pieces can be exposed as Web services.

* An enhanced business process model, featuring a hierarchical view of processes designed with the tool.

PowerDesigner 11.0 starts in price at $995 per developer seat.

Cape Clear Software this week released a beta version of its business process management product, Cape Clear Orchestrator, which is intended for inclusion in the next version of the company’s ESB offering due by December.

Orchestrator features a BPEL 1.1 engine and is intended for orchestrating business processes. Also included are an Eclipse-based design tool for designing business processes based on BPEL and management capabilities to control business flows.

Pronexus this week introduced VBSALT 1.1 (Visual Basic Speech Application Language Tags), a RAD tool for Microsoft Speech Server. VBSALT enables development of speech-enabled outbound dialing applications such as interactive telephone surveys, appointment reminders, and emergency notification broadcasting.

Available now, VBSALT 1.1 features new outbound dialing capabilities and support for the Intervoice Telephony Interface Manager, which is software for call and media control.

Agitar Software this week announced availability of two testing tools, Agitator 2.0 and the Agitar Management Dashboard 2.0. Agitar helps teams implement unit testing in Java development projects while Management Dashboard manages testing efforts.