Information Builders uses SAS/C to Build its Web390® Product

Information Builders, one of the top suppliers of Web reporting software worldwide, evaluated the SAS/C Cross Platform Compiler on NT for the build of its Web390® product. "We were motivated by the hope that we could reduce the time required for both full scale builds and to test programming changes," said Alan Horowitz, Web390 Programming Manager. "We also hoped the IDE would improve productivity and offer useful new functions."

Web390 is the HTTP/HTTPS server that transforms an IBM S/390 into a World Wide Web application and data server capable of supporting global Internet and Intranet activities of new and existing S/390 users. Web390 provides a secure gateway to existing 3270-based applications running under MVS/TSO, CICS, or VM/CMS, giving Web browser users immediate access to the legacy applications and data that support day-to-day commercial operations.

As a result of using the SAS/C Cross Platform Compiler on NT, the time to code and test programming changes was dramatically reduced. Some builds that took as much as an hour on Information Builder's VM system were completed in as little as seven minutes with the cross compiler. "This has been very beneficial to our developers who can concentrate better on the task at hand due to these shortened testing cycles," says Horowitz.

In addition, the IDE and Source Management environment provided many attractive features to Information Builders. Specifically, they found the text editor, text search and compare facilities, versioning features, and windowing environment especially useful. Kudos also go out to the SAS/C Development and Technical Support teams, who successfully addressed a handful of problems associated with the size and complexity of this project. "Though still in the development phase, our Web390 built from NT appears to be the functional equivalent of the mainframe build," states Horowitz. "I'd encourage any company (software vendor or otherwise) with large SAS/C-based applications on the mainframe to take a look at the SAS/C Cross-Platform Compiler."

Headquartered in New York City, Information Builders employs over 1,950 professionals worldwide and achieved revenues of $307 million in 1998. More information on Web390 can be obtained at www.informationbuilders.com.