Killer Apps

While it is true that GemStone's customers have achieved "Killer App" status with a number of the applications enabled through their object database products, the misconception is that one needs to be building a "Killer App" in order to benefit from GemStone's product suite--this simply is not true. Their Java and Smalltalk object database products are designed to make any business-domain-model persist in a seamless and transparent (orthogonal) manner. However, if you do have a "Killer App" to write that needs to be scalable, performative and flexible then read on to get an idea of what has been built with VM-based object database technology.

Most folks would be incredulous to learn that a smalltalk system replaced the mainframe for one of the world's largest integrated international container transportation, logistics and terminal companies--and did so in time to shut down the mainframe by January 1, 2000 (Y2K). Smalltalk is a programming language whose practitioners tend to have a strong affinity and GemStone Systems is the vendor that has made server-side smalltalk capable of supplanting mainframe technology. Since GemStone's heritage is in making smalltalk enterprise-ready with server-side VMs designed from the ground up to run the business, we'll start our "Killer App" discussion here and then proceed on to the Java object database: Facets.

Container transport and logistics

Innovation typically happens in a specific context and is always difficult to achieve. Imagine being able to put your cargo on board a ship for its journey to the Orient or Europe or elsewhere without having to decide which port it will be delivered to until well into the journey--this is but an example of what the Orient Overseas Container Line's (OOCL) Integrated Regional Information System (IRIS-2) enables.

At OOCL, they were able to distinguish themselves from their competition by making their investment in IT a strategic weapon. When faced with the prospect of spending money on their mainframe systems simply to become Y2K compliant, this early leader in e-commerce chose to take the opportunity to supplant and upgrade their mainframe capability instead, developing an "integrated system with proactive capabilities to revolutionize customer service and optimize [their] business operations." This strategic investment has become one of the most comprehensive shipment management solutions available. IRIS-2 launched in 1999 and "became not only software, but a new culture to the Company. It has changed the way we think and how to do business."

With the foresight to incorporate partners and competitors in their domain model, this system is able to serve the entire life cycle of a shipment. OOCL's dominant position as a customer-focused, IT leader in world shipping has been leveraged into CargoSmart Limited, "one of the most advanced portal and integration providers for the ocean container transportation industry." In 1999, OOCL received a coveted Smithsonian Institute Award for its achievement with IRIS-2. Today, approximately 30% of all container traffic is managed by a GemStone-S-based system.

Finance

Many are familiar with the complex, if not contrived, market-maker commodity trading systems developed at Enron--these days, infamy brings publicity. However, for the most part, only the investment banking community is familiar with the wholesome and powerful success story of startup called The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The ICE developed the ability to provide a dispassionate and impartial broker service by which buyers and sellers in the trading of options, futures and swaps financial instruments related to a broad range of commodity products can find one another and execute transactions straight-through. Where Enron traded for their own account in an opaque world the ICE created a transparent means by which buyers can find sellers using up to the second information and have their trades executed impartially (with complete anonymity) and securely on a reliable, robust and scalable trading system. The technology that underlies this system is the first commercially available object database: GemStone-S.

The commercial success of the ICE demonstrates that the brightest ideas of individuals in the most sophisticated industries can be brought to life in software and effect change in these same markets. The ICE has become a leader in the OTC securities market and, in April 2001, the ICE acquired outright The International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in London, Europe's leading energy and options exchange.

Facets, GemStone's Java object database

GemStone Systems was one of the early leaders in server-side Java technology. The creation of this standards based VM language by Sun Microsystems was a natural place to leverage GemStone's considerable experience and expertise in providing enterprise-class VM technology for persisting, retrieving and executing business-object-models. GemStone's first Java application server was released as a beta in October of 1996 and GA in Q1 of 1997. GemStone's current Java object database is Facets 3.1.

With the broad acceptance of server-side Java, GemStone has been able to provide a world-class platform that allows its customers to focus on their business-domain rather than O/R mapping and other unnecessary overhead. As with GemStone-S, Facets provides a capability that serves equally well the very complex as well as the more mundane business-object-models. Since our focus here is on the "Killer App" we'll identify a few solutions that have distinguished themselves in their industries.

Internet Banking

FirstRand of South Africa has an extraordinary business record, achieving the lofty status of the Southern Hemisphere's most profitable company. With success using GemStone-S in developing a Treasury Dealing system it was an easy decision to use GemStone-J as their platform for managing the Customer Loyalty Currency called eBucks. FirstRand customers earn eBucks when they transact against any account managed by any of the FirstRand subsidiaries, with services ranging from banking to vehicle financing to insurance. The powerful part of this story is time to market, delivering a working system in 100 days by a team of six developers! In the words of Vincent Coetzee, eBuck's architect, "this was possible due to the flexibility and power provided by using an ODBMS to provide persistent storage for the Application Server." By October 2004, it is expected that eBucks will support "over 1 million customers presenting 45 million transactions per month."

A fine paper has been written about the eBucks application and can be found here: [link to paper].

DSL Provisioning

Telecom has become one of the most competitive industries in the world in large part due to the Telecommunications Act of 1996--at least it has heaped much responsibility onto RBOC carriers to open up their systems, even if it has not always provided access to new markets for the incumbent. In many ways, there are few businesses that have more need for providing competitor, customer and call-center facing systems than our local phone companies. One of these RBOC carriers uses GemStone's Java object database and application server to provision its DSL customers, supporting both call-center and consumer direct access through the Internet.

Like the eBucks application, what is particularly powerful about this system is the fact that its first release took only 6 weeks to deliver to production, covering one-fifth the total loops it would ultimately manage. Today the loop qualification portion of the system answers 350,000 queries per day and the network management portion of the system fulfill 98 percent of the requests within 24 hours. This 24 by 7 system has achieved a 99.9 percent up time while improving provisioning times by 4 times the pre-system rate.