Press Releases

CastBridge, Inc. Takes Instant Messaging to the Next Level with DataMessenger 2.0

Latest Version lets Users Seamlessly Share Information in Real-Time 

Cupertino, CA, July 12, 2004, –  CastBridge Inc., the award winning developer of real-time data networking software, today announced release of Version 2.0 of its data sharing software, CastBridge DataMessenger. This major upgrade of DataMessenger allows end-users to easily and securely share information from multiple data sources in real time using applications such as Microsoft® Excel, Microsoft® Word and other enterprise software such as ERP systems.  DataMessenger essentially allows applications on different computers to “talk” to one another via instant messaging in much the same way that humans use instant messaging today.

 Compared to traditional Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) technologies from companies like Tibco®, IBM® or WebMethods®, DataMessenger offers a solution which can be installed in days vs. weeks, can be operated by end users as opposed to programmers, and costs tens of thousands of dollars vs. hundreds of thousands of dollars. “Creating and sharing current information using traditional EAI technologies often lead to major implementation headaches and consume enormous amounts of time and money,” says Dr. Kumar Thiagarajan, Founder and CEO of CastBridge. “CastBridge has a simple, but powerful vision: to provide a way for non-IT users to easily share any information in real-time using the tools and skills they already use – it is basically instant messaging for computer applications.  We have seen end users create 'applications' using our technology where no convenient solution existed just hours earlier.”

Specifically, DataMessenger enables end users to access both structured data (from back end systems) and unstructured data within desktop applications without the additional cost of IT support and costly, complicated EAI software. Version 2.0 includes several ground-breaking features including:

• Built-in support for intranet and internet-based data messaging between such popular desktop applications as Microsoft® Excel, Microsoft® Word, and Microsoft® PowerPoint.

• Advanced authentication and logging capabilities to enable customers to closely track who updates data, when they update it, and what the content of their update is.

• A major upgrade of DataMessenger’s core architecture to make it fully ReST compliant which enables it to easily support data messaging between almost any application using most messaging protocols.

• Support for multiple deployment topologies including a “server-less” peer-to-peer model as well as a traditional server-based model.

• Support for rapid integration into Business Intelligence platforms from companies such as Cognos®, Business Objects®, and Informatica®.

“With 2.0, we listened carefully to our 1.0 users.  We then built a new, platform-agnostic architecture from the ground up to enable end users to access data form a variety of applications with minimal time and expense,” adds Thiagarajan.

The Singapore Police Force has been one of the early adopters of the product, and has been using it in several innovative ways - from day-to-day operational applications, to one-off custom deployments to manage large events.  They are the first to take advantage of CastBridge's ad hoc deployment capabilities that allow end users to rapidly network and flexibly deploy applications in an effective manner.

 "The need for real-time data aggregation and sharing is crucial in Police operations,” says Senior Assistant Commissioner (SAC) Soh Kee Hean, Director Police Technology of the Singapore Police Force.  “This is even more critical when it comes to emergency planning and joint-operations with other Home Team agencies. We see the need to embark on this joint-collaboration (CastBridge, TEC and SPF), so as to truly test out such real-time technology for future adoption in policing operations.   We have already tried out early versions of the 2.0 product in real-time for 'incident-reporting' during some of the recent events held in Singapore, such as the Asian Aerospace Show 2004 and the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) 2004 Conference. Our users have provided valuable operational feedback from these events to CastBridge that will be incorporated into the 2.0 release."

 Beta customers of DataMessenger 2.0 have been using the product for a variety of applications such as:

• Replacing a highly manual process for collecting sales forecasts from different regions using manual e-mails and faxes, with a real-time sales reporting system that links spreadsheets in different regions to a master spreadsheet in real time

• Replacing a complex and unstable web of spreadsheets and word processing documents used to create quarterly financial reports with a dramatically streamlined real-time system that closely monitors who enters what data when in order to ensure compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley

• Rapidly creating a secure, real-time data sharing system for monitoring security issues at major events and conventions

• Providing customers and partners with Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets that allow real-time updates of back-end systems data across company firewalls

Users may request a 90-day trial beta version of CastBridge DataMessenger 2.0 by visiting http://www.castbridge.com.

About CastBridge
The CastBridge solution is based on "instant data messaging" and gives the creators and managers of data simple and direct control over the sharing of that data with others. Regardless of whether data is in a cell in Microsoft® Excel, a field in a Seibel® database, or even a URL from a distant web site, that data can be easily shared using familiar applications such as Microsoft® Office. Based on a peer-to-peer, instant messaging architecture CastBridge allows any user within an enterprise or organization, to use a simple publish and subscribe model to share desktop or enterprise data. Without IT support, users are able to dynamically and securely share any type of data at any level of granularity. Data sharing is persistent, real-time and secure and can be accomplished with a simple point and click action.

Winner of the "Breakthrough Technology Award" at DEMO 2003, CastBridge has customers in Asia and the United States and is backed by Mobius Venture Capital and Clearstone Venture Partners. The company is located in Cupertino, California, USA. For more information please contact info@castbridge.com.

© 2004 CastBridge