Technology Services

Agile Business Suite is a rapid application development and deployment environment, which offers model-based and model-driven development capabilities. Agile Business Suite translates the requirements and specifications defined in the model into a fully functional application that is customized for the target deployment environment. Developers can design, develop, generate, and deploy applications to a diverse range of runtime platforms which include Windows .NET, Unisys ClearPath MCP and ClearPath OS 2200, and J2EE application servers: JBoss, Web Sphere, and Web Logic — all from a single, high-level application model. Agile Business Suite™ provides a complete runtime environment to support the solution — customized for the specific deployment platform.

Agile Business Suite offers safe passage to EAE 3R3 applications, which means all existing EAE application models can be readily imported and deployed using the Agile Business Suite product.

Agile Business Suite includes two major components, Agile Business Suite Developer and Agile Business Suite Runtime. Agile Business Suite Developer is installed on a Microsoft Windows workstation, and operates as a plug-in to Microsoft Visual Studio. Agile Business Suite Runtime is installed on the target runtime platform and provides an infrastructure in which the deployed Agile Business Suite components will run. The runtime environment is different for each of the target platforms supported by Agile Business Suite.

Keane is jointly involved with Unisys in developing the Agile Business Suite product for the J2EE and Windows.NET target platform. Keane is also involved in developing the XMI plug-in for the Agile Business Suite and Agile Business Suite Debugger – simulating J2EE and ClearPath MCP runtime.
Keane is opening a Center of Excellence to offer different Agile Business Suite services.

EAE dates back to 1980, when Unisys introduced LINC (Logic & Information Network Compiler) as a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool for COBOL developers. LINC itself was a 4th Generation Language (4GL) that enabled the development of highly resilient, high-throughput, heavy transaction, and low maintenance systems, thereby making it ideally suited for the development of large and complex enterprise applications. LINC has been used globally to develop systems in diverse industries such as financial services, transportation, and public sector.

Over the years, LINC has evolved into EAE (Enterprise Application Environment), getting new features along the way in accordance with the needs of the IT industry. This continuous evolution has enabled it to remain as a technology of choice within the IT industry. The technology, which started as a 4GL meant for Unisys mainframes only, has expanded to be available for UNIX and Windows deployment. The latest version of EAE will enable deployment on J2EE and .NET-based platforms as well, expanding the reach of EAE-based systems.

The core strength of EAE lies in its ability to remove complications from development, which are typically associated with 3rd Generation Languages (3GL) such as C, C++, and Java. This enables efforts to be focused on implementing business needs -- and this approach extends during the maintenance of the application as well. At the same time, the EAE technology enables deployment on most leading platforms, thereby providing a system that is 'open' to other IT systems within an organization. Also, being a 4GL, the language itself is small in size and easy for developers to learn and use.. The latest version of EAE also incorporates a rich set of object-oriented features that make it easier for developers from other technologies to embrace EAE.