NetScheme Introduces InterMart Toolkit

For Developing Web Front-Ends to Datamarts New Toolkit Enables Developers
to Build Easy, Intuitive Web Browser-Based Applications for Navigating
Relational Databases Without SQL Knowledge

URL: http://www.netscheme.com

MARLBOROUGH, MA -- April 8, 1996 -- NetScheme Solutions, Inc. today
introduced NetScheme InterMart Toolkit, the first application development
toolkit that combines intuitive Web browser-based database access to
powerful, object-based querying and data navigation. InterMart Toolkit
enables developers to provide business users with easy access -- without
SQL knowledge -- to data stored in relational databases by turning their
data into hypertext links that can be easily navigated using popular Web
browsers.

An innovative set of easy-to-use data navigation tools for both Internet
and Intranet database applications, InterMart Toolkit supports the popular
Microsoft SQL Server databases on the Windows NT platform. In addition,
InterMart Toolkit will support any relational database which complies with
Microsoft's ODBC connectivity specification. The alpha version of
InterMart Toolkit is available for developers starting this week, with the
beta version available in May and first customer shipments of Release 1.0
of the product slated for July. NetScheme will be demonstrating InterMart
Toolkit in its Booth #435 at DB Expo next week in San Francisco and in its
Booth #2123 at Internet World starting April 29 in San Jose.

"InterMart Toolkit gives developers the ability to rapidly build Web-based
applications that make it easy for anyone to browse data in relational
databases, without requiring the user to write or understand SQL," said
Carl J. Young, NetScheme president. "We believe that developers and
database administrators that are creating Intranet front-ends for their
corporate datamarts will find the benefits of InterMart Toolkit
compelling."

InterMart Toolkit is the first suite of database tools to allow
intelligent, focused queries of database data by end-users working from an
intuitive, easy-to-use Web browser. InterMart Toolkit will make it
practical for corporate datamarts to be connected to an Intranet as a
means of providing easy data browsing throughout the enterprise.

InterMart Toolkit Users

The InterMart Toolkit is designed for major corporations, OEMs and ISVs
that are developing distributed Intranet and Internet applications for
corporate data warehouses and datamarts that need to provide Web-based
access.

"Most users need fast, easy and flexible access to corporate information
stored in datamarts or data warehouses," said Dave Kelly, director of the
Applications Development Service at Hurwitz Consulting Group, Inc. "We
expect to see a convergence of datamarts with Intranet Web browser support
as a way to provide that capability."

NetScheme is also targeting ISVs and VARs who will license the product for
a wide variety of applications. Visibility, Inc., Wilmington, MA, a
leading vendor software systems for enterprise resource planning (ERP) in
the manufacturing industry is a NetScheme alpha development partner.
Visibility is testing InterMart Toolkit with its customer, Aavid Thermal
Technologies, Laconia, NH, a manufacturer of custom heat dissipation
devices for the semiconductor industry. Visibility and Aavid are building
a prototype Web-based ad hoc inquiry system for Aavid's network of
manufacturer's reps.

"The software products we will develop using InterMart Toolkit will enable
our customers to gain competitive advantage by tapping the power of the
Web to easily access real-time mission-critical business information
stored in back-end databases," said Scott Lundstrom, vice president of
product management at Visibility. "NetScheme's object-based modeler makes
it possible for end-users to easily browse a production database using
only hypertext navigation links. This means Aavid's reps will be able to
log in via the Web to access real live production data such as delivery
schedules or application descriptions, or even place an order through the
Web."

Connecting the Datamart to the Intranet

"The client-side delivery mechanism of choice for datamarts is fast
becoming HTML-based Web browsers deployed on internal corporate
Intranets," said Dr. Robert Rubin, NetScheme's vice president of
engineering. "Web browsers offer a natural, easy-to-use mechanism for
navigating from one item of information to another: hypertext links that
are followed simply by pointing and clicking with a mouse. Thus we
designed InterMart Toolkit to meet the challenge of transforming the data
in the datamart into navigable hypertext."

InterMart Toolkit Components

The InterMart Toolkit is implemented by four cooperating components: the
Navigation Model, NetScheme Modeler, the Navigation Server and the ODBC
Driver: Model-Based Architecture NetScheme InterMart Toolkit creates an
object-oriented navigation model that displays the database objects, their
descriptive and identifying properties, and the relationships among them.
The architecture incorporates a RADD (Rapid Application Development and
Deployment) Modeler and a scalable Navigation Server.

NetScheme Modeler

NetScheme Modeler creates a business-oriented navigation model that
presents information to users in their own terms. The Modeler uses a
wizard to transform the database schema into the initial navigation model.
The Navigation Model Wizard inspects the database and automatically
generates a Navigation Model that includes all of the business objects and
navigation links. This wizard enables users to automatically create a set
of forms that contain navigation links. This step is as straightforward as
creating a presentation using any software package.

NetScheme Navigation Server

The scaleable NetScheme Navigation Server lets users navigate through the
data, browsing from form to form simply by pointing and clicking on
navigation links. These actions trigger intelligent, focused queries that
retrieve the appropriate data, reporting it in whatever format is most
useful. The Navigation Server uses the navigation model to translate
requests from a standard Web browser into SQL queries performed against
the database employed to build the model. Besides enabling the user to
browse the data, the Navigation Server also supports browsing the
dictionary that describes the model itself, keeps a browsing session
history that lets the user revisit or reuse any form that was previously
displayed, and archives the context of the query. The model also contains
a data governor that can be set to any desired parameters, preventing
so-called "run-away queries" that run amok by returning enormous amounts
of unneeded information.

ODBC Driver

The InterMart Toolkit ODBC Driver lets any desktop application link with
the Navigation Server, making it easy for even untrained users to issue
queries and retrieve information. In addition, it presents a common view
of the database to all users of Internet browsers and other standard
desktop tools.

System Requirements for InterMart Toolkit NetScheme Modeler:

 Operating System: Windows 95 or Windows NT
 RAM: 16 MB minimum recommended
 Disk Space: 20 MB minimum recommended
 Integrates with leading HTML editors, Web browsers and Web servers.

NetScheme Navigation Server:

 * Designed for use with Microsoft NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server
 * Can be accessed by any Windows, Macintosh or UNIX Web browser or
   ODBC-compliant Windows desktop application.

Pricing and Availability

InterMart Toolkit is available immediately for professional developers.
Pricing for the toolkit license is $695 per server. There are no client
license requirements or run-time fees. Support will be available through
the NetScheme Web site, where users can get up-to-date technical
information and download software updates, demos and sample applications.

NetScheme Solutions, Inc. is a new company formed from the core technology,
management team, engineering team of Open Data Corporation. The company's
mission is to create a family of premier software tool products designed
to meet the needs of professional developers creating Internet- and
Intranet-based datamarts. The company is backed by a prestigious group of
venture capital investors, including Applied Technology, Oak Investment
Partners, Highland Capital Partners, Invemed, Soros Fund Management and
Venrock Associates. Headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, NetScheme
is located at 201 Boston Post Road West, Suite 400, Marlborough, MA 01752,
and can be reached at (508) 480-0877, via fax at (508) 480-0983 or on the
Web at http://www.netscheme.com.
 
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