Compuware Further Accelerates Enterprise Development with Release of OptimalJ 3.3

Updates to Pragmatic MDA Development Solution Include Extended Collaboration and Service-Enablement Functionality

London, UK - 24th January 2005 - Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) today released Compuware OptimalJ 3.3, the latest version of its enterprise development solution. New features in version 3.3 extend OptimalJ's automation capabilities to further speed development, simplify legacy reuse through service-enablement and ease development team collaboration.

OptimalJ's pragmatic implementation of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) enables Java development teams to deliver service-oriented applications faster than ever before. OptimalJ is a collaborative development solution that is used by agile development teams to rapidly build enterprise-grade applications, integrate with a broad array of legacy and packaged applications and deploy to any major Java platform.

"Compuware's innovative development solution enabled us to double the speed of our development process, while maintaining an extremely high level of quality," said Richard Blais, General Manager, Locus Systems. "As a result, we have chosen Compuware OptimalJ as our standard platform for J2EE application development."

The pressure to align IT initiatives with business priorities presents a significant challenge. Development managers must boost development productivity with increasingly complex technology using existing resources and staff. "Enterprise application development requires far more technical skill and design expertise than before," noted Carl Zetie, analyst from Forrester Research. "As a result, many IT organisations are so busy wrestling with the complexity of development that they are struggling to keep pace with the rapid changes in business demands." (Why Enterprise Application Development Is So Hard--And How It Must Get Easier, Forrester Research, August 2004.)

Compuware OptimalJ 3.3's new features help development organisations address this challenge by focusing on:

  • Speeding development through extended automation - Adding to its already state-of-the-art automation capabilities, Compuware OptimalJ 3.3 brings automation to user interface design. OptimalJ 3.3 includes powerful new functionality enabling developers to model application page flow, visually lay out forms with widgets and then bind these widgets to back-end data components and services. OptimalJ automatically transforms this technology independent design into a working application using customisable user interface design patterns, ensuring that the web application has a consistent look and feel. By adding more automation to the development process, Compuware OptimalJ makes the fastest enterprise development solution on the market even faster.
  • Simplifying re-use of existing legacy and packaged applications - Nearly all major enterprise development projects are required to re-use data and functionality from existing applications, and OptimalJ provides comprehensive support for integrating with these applications through service-enablement. With this latest release, Compuware has expanded OptimalJ's integration functionality to provide support for green screen applications and legacy applications that run on non-IBM platforms through its native integration with Sabratec ApplinX, a leading mainframe modernisation technology. OptimalJ 3.3 also now integrates with SAP R/3 through a partnership with iWay. This new functionality enables customers to use OptimalJ's simple and speedy integration capabilities to connect with more back ends than any development solution in the industry.
  • Easing development collaboration with integrated requirements management - Compuware OptimalJ helps development teams collaborate by offering role-based editions, each geared towards the particular challenges of its intended user, that make it possible for team members to specialise and provide differentiated value to a common project. Version 3.3 extends this by integrating requirements management through a partnership with SteelTrace Catalyze, an agile requirements management tool. This integration enables business analysts to formally participate in the development process by using Catalyze to gather and capture requirements that can be automatically propagated into OptimalJ. Developers using OptimalJ can then trace back to the business requirement through the bi-directional integration between the two products.

"Compuware OptimalJ is the only collaborative development and integration environment that is optimised for the realities of today's enterprise development challenges," said Mike Sawicki, OptimalJ Product Manager, Compuware. "No development process can be completely automated, yet OptimalJ enables teams to apply automation where it adds the most value. This enables a true iterative development process that results in the consistent, rapid delivery of software that achieves maximum business value."

Compuware provides a full portfolio of products and services to reduce the complexity involved in developing, deploying and managing enterprise applications that deliver maximum business value. Today, Compuware announced it is enhancing its solutions for enterprise Java applications with the release of new versions of Compuware OptimalJ, Compuware DevPartner Java Edition and Compuware Vantage Analyzer for J2EE, a new addition to the company's application service management solutions.


About Compuware

Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) maximises the value IT brings to the business by helping CIOs more effectively manage the business of IT. Compuware solutions accelerate the development, improve the quality and enhance the performance of critical business systems while enabling CIOs to align and govern the entire IT portfolio, increasing efficiency, cost control and employee productivity throughout the IT organisation. Founded in 1973, Compuware serves the world's leading IT organisations, including more than 90 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies.

For more information visit: www.compuware.co.uk

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Compuware is a member of The Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group (TLG), a premier industry-networking forum for leaders within the IT industry, established in May 2002.

For Compuware Press Inquiries Contact:

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