The IT and developer communities have been waiting for a configurable portal that delivers on what .NET promised. Viznet from Adroit Technologies delivers an all-in-one application that can easily expose business and process data with smart client capabilities. Users do not have to be developers in order to be able to build rich graphical user interfaces (UIs) or dynamic realtime business management applications. The application was launched in May 2005 and is the result of three years of development. The Viznet application is built on Microsoft .NET technologies, implementing smart client features such as Web services.
In short, Viznet is a secure realtime information portal that features a configurable rich graphical interface to easily represent and control processes and businesses. The portal component also allows for easy extensibility to suit most vertical markets.
Adroit Technologies has been in the business of developing 'off-the-shelf' software products for the realtime process control industry for over 20 years.
Dave Wibberley, managing director, commented, "During the development phase we realised that Viznet would be a great framework for the general business community and not only for the industrial world. Our skills lie in developing software that does not require you to have high-level skills to build custom applications. And we believe we have achieved this with the product." With a rich set of user controls available, the development, deployment and management of performance dashboards and other key performance indicators (KPIs) across an enterprise using the Internet is now a reality.
"You do not have to be a developer to produce rich user interface graphics and tie it to process data. With Viznet the objective is easily achieved by using a wide array of graphic tools," says Nicholas Beets, senior software engineer for Adroit.
On the front-end, most people connect to a smart client Operator that display's graphic forms over a secure connection either via the local area network (LAN) or Internet connection. On the same connection, users will also connect to the Designer that is used to design graphic forms that are stored on the server and configure various other options to suit their needs.
Fritz Kok, also a senior software engineer on the Viznet development project says, "Viznet is not only a product - it is also a platform. It is a universal user interface which takes and amalgamates data from various sources, providing a unified view of data and process. "Viznet is a realtime information portal comprising a server and various data source plug-ins such as databases (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL), supervisory control and data acquisition (scada), OLE for process control (OPC), manufacturing execution system (MES), Scripting (VB.NET and C#), and OPUS reporting and Web services, amongst others. Many of these can be acquired as a subset of the product on purchase. Also worth noting is that there are no licensing fees to develop a plug-in data source for Viznet.
Three markets
Adroit reports that Viznet attracts three types of markets. In the primary market the software is purchased for what it is: a universal UI with a portal. This market is primarily solution providers using the product for database, network, MES, and scada purposes, as the product can already perform these tasks without much additional work.
The second market is companies looking to extend the framework to provide additional functionality and customisable solutions, for example S-DAS, a company specialising in the development and delivery of small data packet applications used the Viznet platform to implement a container tracking solution.
The third market is companies wishing to incorporate a configurable user interface into their own applications. Adroit has already signed original equipment manufacturing (OEM) contracts in this area and the company believes this is an area of great potential now and in the future.
Viznet has already attracted the attention of Microsoft for its innovative use of .NET technology, and made headline news last year when NASDAQ listed top MES development company, Cimnet, announced a partnership agreement with Adroit for the development of its modular range of Factelligence products on the Viznet framework.
For more information contact Megan Davidson, Adroit Technologies, 011 658 8100, megand@adroit.co.za, www.viznet.co.za
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