Manifold System Release 5.00 Professional Edition Available for Sale

See Screen Shots of this product at the Enterprise Edition page.

Manifold System 5.00 Enterprise Edition Released

Enterprise Edition provides the most modern multi-user DBMS-centric enterprise-class GIS ever!

19 August 2002 - Carson City, USA: manifold.net today announced that Manifold System Release 5.00 Enterprise Edition has begun shipping to customers. Enterprise Edition provides storage of maps, drawings, images, surfaces, tables, text and scripts within geospatial databases using enterprise-class DBMS products such as IBM's DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server or many others. Enterprise Edition provides superior DBMS-centric enterprise GIS for multi-user teams working collaboratively on projects by using a more modern architecture than old-fashioned approaches employing ESRI's "ArcSDE" product line. Manifold's Enterprise Edition is $395 per license with discounts ranging from 20% to 50% when licensed in quantity. Enterprise Edition may be purchased today via Manifold's Online Store.

"Enterprise Edition combines technical innovations with business innovations to bring enterprise-class GIS to a wider range of users than ever before at a vastly lower price than ever before. Enterprise users will like the superior speed and greater reliability as compared to older, ESRI-style technology, and everyone will like the greater ease-of-use and lower cost. For the first time, small organizations like city GIS departments can cost-effectively put GIS to work in a multi-user, collaborative environment without getting clobbered by high middleware costs," said Dimitri Rotow, Product Manager.

"By using a more modern architecture that includes several unique Manifold technical advances we can provide much faster performance and more sophisticated capabilities for most GIS users than is possible with older, ESRI-style technology," he continued. "Why spend thousands of dollars per seat to get slower, less reliable and less sophisticated software?"

In addition to DBMS-centric storage, Enterprise Edition also includes all features of Manifold's Professional Edition and the Manifold Debugger. The Manifold Debugger is a sophisticated dynamic debugger that assists rapid program development in any ActiveX scripting language (Visual Basic scripting, Javascript, PERL or Python, for example) used to create scripts within Manifold. Enterprise Edition also includes the ability to write files to ESRI's .e00 ArcInfo "export" format for interchange with existing ArcInfo installations.

A "GIS" is a Geographic Information System, software that combines a visual mapping interface with database capabilities. Mapping provides a true location context for data, while the visual aspects of a map provide a visual "handle" to database information. To an increasing degree, the important informational assets of an organization provide even greater value when their location or geographic context is exploited. GIS software is used by many organizations and individuals. Cities, for example, use GIS to plan and manage their jurisdictions by keeping track of assets such as roads, improvements, stop lights, utility facilities, bridges, buildings and many other assets. Whereas a simple CAD drawing might show just the layout of under-street pipes and conduits, a GIS drawing would normally show important data associated with such assets. For example, with a GIS one might click on a pipe and not only see where it is but know what the capacity of the pipe is, when it was installed, what material was used, the vendor, how deep it is and other important information. Modern GIS products like Manifold System are used by thousands of different types of users throughout all branches of government, industry and academia worldwide as well as by non-profit organizations and the military.

Organizations with rich data assets will want to make those assets available to many users at once in an orderly way. Enterprise Edition enables many users to choose items of interest from the library of information held in Enterprise servers and to use those drawings, images, maps or other assets without fear of conflict with other users. Enterprise Edition will also help individual users, such as scientific researchers, who possess rich data holdings to better organize and exploit their data. Because Enterprise Edition is based on the most sophisticated general purpose GIS ever created, Manifold System Release 5.00, Enterprise Edition users can choose from an immense roster of capabilities not found in legacy GIS packages.

Technical Innovations

Manifold's Enterprise Edition architecture introduces several technical innovations not found in older architectures:

Higher Level of Object Storage - Manifold's Enterprise Edition uses a new approach to centralized storage of data within DBMS providers. The old approach is to store only very low level objects within a special "spatial" DBMS such as Oracle Spatial. As drawings are used, collections of objects in view or involved must be fetched in a very inefficient process from the DBMS. Although the old approach is effective when small edits are made in subsets of a drawing, it is extremely slow and inefficient when global edits must be made or when more sophisticated, user-friendly graphical user interfaces are desired. Enterprise Edition stores objects at a very high level as entire components within the DBMS. This architecture uses the DBMS as a centralized data warehouse server with supervisory, multi-user resolution features added. The result is dramatically faster operation for most common GIS tasks and superior interactive performance that enables use of modern, user-friendly GUIs for interactive GIS work.

Distributed Geospatial Computation - Older architectures utilize primitive spatial operators run within the centralized DBMS server. Manifold uses distributed processing to apply the power of client workstations (many of which now have the power of supercomputers of the time when ESRI-style systems were designed) to allow sophisticated spatial operations to be performed at faster speed than even simple operations can be done in older systems. Because Manifold Enterprise Edition users do not have to time-share an inefficient process run on the central DBMS server, Manifold spatial operations can often performed hundreds of times faster in large installations than is possible with older architectures. With older systems, the more users the slower the system is able to perform spatial computations in most cases. With Manifold, additional users result in no decrease at all in spatial computation time.

Automatic Caching - Enterprise Edition automatically uses a sophisticated caching strategy that takes maximum advantage of the new era of cheap RAM and nearly free disk space. Depending on the particular operations being accomplished, automatic caching can reduce network bandwidth requirements when working with data to less than a thousandth of what is required by legacy architectures. Perceived speed of operation is greatly enhanced as well, enabling the use of modern, highly interactive graphical user interfaces as well as auto-adaptive controls embedded within the user interface. In addition to the obvious performance benefits of sophisticated caching, the use of an automatic cache provides network and DBMS fault tolerance as well as the ability to work off-line.

Reliable Multi-user Editing - For the first time ever in GIS, Manifold introduces the elegant multi-user editing resolution methodology that has long been employed in the professional software industry by industry-leading source code control systems. Large programming teams that work collaboratively on projects consisting of thousands of modules have a lot in common with GIS teams that must work collaboratively on many maps. In either case, two users cannot be allowed to edit the same document in an incompatible way at the same time, yet users must be free to utilize any of the documents or maps at any time. Enterprise Edition automatically prevents multi-user editing conflicts while allowing simultaneous use of the same drawing, image, map, surface, script or other component. Manifold's "check out / check in" methodology is easy to understand and easy to use because it is modeled on the time-tested methods used in state-of-the-art software development, where progress in user interfaces and effective collaborative methodology has evolved much faster than in the relatively much smaller GIS industry.

Automatic Lossless Compression - Enterprise Edition automatically compresses and decompresses the data stream connecting the DBMS server to client. The result is that the DBMS will work faster because it has to store and serve fewer bytes, disk space on the DBMS server is conserved and bandwidth requirements are minimized. Together with the bandwidth reductions made possible by caching, data stream compression makes it possible to use lower performance data links within a WAN or Internet architecture in many applications using Enterprise Edition.

Key Benefits

Manifold's technical innovations provide a variety of benefits in Enterprise Edition that are not found in older systems:

Faster performance, at times by a factor of 100 or more in interactive GIS operations as compared to older architectures.
Reliable, conflict-free editing of complex data in a multi-user environment. Surprisingly, even some very expensive older systems cannot guarantee conflict-free editing as does Manifold.
Freedom to choose almost any DBMS vendor. Enterprise Edition works with dozens of different database management systems. The Manifold model by default allows use of almost any DBMS that allows transactions and that has an ODBC driver.
No expensive, performance-draining "middleware" required. A high performance database like Oracle or SQL Server is designed to work directly with high performance clients like Manifold. Enterprise Edition connects directly to the DBMS for unsurpassed performance. This saves money that would otherwise be wasted on costly middleware that works more slowly than Manifold.
Works with the standard DBMS products offered off-the-shelf by dozens of DBMS vendors. Older products require costly "spatial" versions instead of the standard DBMS product or require expensive add-ins, thus increasing not only initial cost but also the cost of ownership.
Rich Data in Geospatial Databases - Enterprise Edition stores maps, vector drawings, raster images, surfaces, queries, scripts, tables and comments within the same unified structure. Older systems typically store only drawings and occasionally images. However, it is just as important to store common components like scripts and tables and surfaces within the collaborative framework of an enterprise GIS installation.
Heterogeneous DBMS utilization. Within the same project Manifold can transparently include multiple components from different Enterprise servers hosted by different DBMS vendors. This allows users to leverage a distributed IT information infrastructure that includes DBMS products from different vendors.
DBMS fault tolerance. If the DBMS crashes while working on an Enterprise project the project is still safe and can be saved with no loss of data. With older architectures, if the DBMS crashes the data is lost.
Network fault tolerance. If the network crashes while working on an Enterprise project the project is still safe. Transient disconnects won't even be noticed, and lengthy disconnects still allow a local save of the project. Work can continue even without the network. When the network comes back up the project can be opened and automatic synchronization will occur. With older architectures, if the network crashes while data is being edited the map involved can be seriously damaged.
Practical Internet capability. The high bandwidth requirements of older architectures mean that connecting over Internet to a remote DBMS is not usually realistic. With Manifold, the more efficient Enterprise architecture means that it is realistic in many cases to connect to an Enterprise server via corporate Internet links. This allows project data to be drawn from distant servers.
Off-line working capability. Older systems cannot work without a constant, "live" connection to the DBMS. Manifold allows transparent off-line work, such as with laptops when traveling away from a direct connection to an Enterprise server. Enterprise Edition users can continue working while away from their corporate network.
Automatic compression. Data saved in the DBMS is automatically compressed, which usually requires four to seven times less connection bandwidth and storage capacity for the DBMS.
Mix and Match Enterprise and Local Data. Manifold projects can include a free-form mix of data from Enterprise servers or local data. This allows users to take advantage of centralized IT resources while retaining the flexibility to work with their own, locally generated data.
Compatibility with Professional Edition. Instant, transparent compatibility with Professional Edition users is a snap with Enterprise Edition. This allows a cost savings because Enterprise license need only be procured for those who need them. Users can also instantly save data in a form that other GIS packages can use for easy interchange.
Integrated Internet Map Server. Because the connection to Enterprise servers is transparent within Enterprise Edition, all functions of Manifold System 5.00 are available, including the Internet Map Server. Users can draw data from a web of Enterprise servers and publish it to Internet as a dynamic map that may be browsed and queried. Creating a web site in Enterprise Edition requires only a few mouse clicks without any programming.
Easy to Use. No programming or complex configuration required! Enterprise Edition uses simple, clear, point-and-click Windows dialogs for all tasks so users never need deal with the complexity of an enterprise-class DBMS. Enterprise Edition is so smooth and easy to operate that users will never realize their data is hosted on an enterprise-class DBMS. Compared to the baffling complexity of configuring ESRI ArcSDE with Oracle Spatial, it's clear that the simplicity and clarity of Manifold will for the first time allow ordinary Windows users to operate a geospatial DBMS GIS. This saves an enormous amount of funds because organizations will not need to hire expensive experts to program and configure their enterprise GIS.

Business Innovations

Manifold's Enterprise Edition brings enterprise-class GIS capability to a wider class of users than ever before due to several Manifold business innovations:

Low price - At $395 per license with discounts starting at 20% for as few as five licenses, for the first time ever enterprise-class GIS is affordable by any organization and even by individuals.

Includes SQL Server - The cost of an enterprise-class DBMS such as Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server is often too great a cost for smaller organizations. Manifold's Enterprise Edition includes at no additional charge a complete Microsoft SQL Server 2000 desktop engine installation. SQL Server 2000 desktop engine delivers the immense sophistication and reliability of SQL Server in a package suitable for most GIS organizations of up to several dozen users. No other GIS has ever before bundled a sophisticated enterprise-class DBMS with its product.

Sold exclusively via Internet - By selling over Internet Manifold eliminates the high cost and unfair business practices associated with individual commissioned salespeople. Just as Dell has made a mantra of dealing direct, the availability of direct purchases from Manifold allows users worldwide to share the benefits of a direct factory relationship.

All prices published on Internet - Manifold is the only vendor of enterprise-class GIS that publishes all prices and all volume discounts on the web for all to read. This completely eliminates the double-dealing and special case pricing that plagues the GIS industry. With Manifold, all users know they have a level playing field on pricing. Every user knows that they are paying the same price for their quantity level as their competitors in business.

Multiversion CDs - Manifold Enterprise Edition is distributed on a multiversion CD that features a single installation package and single executable that is used for all three current Manifold System editions: Professional Edition, Professional Edition with Debugger and Enterprise Edition. The license serial number provided at installation by the user configures the executable to launch in the appropriate product mode. Using a single multiversion CD simplifies shipping and inventory management and so reduces costs. In addition, because all three versions share the same code base any bugs repaired or improvements made in any of the three versions will automatically benefit all users. This enables Enterprise Edition users to take advantage of the immense installed base of Manifold's Professional Edition

Instant Upgrades - Because every Manifold System installation is already ready for Enterprise Edition, users can upgrade from Professional Edition to Enterprise Edition by simply entering an Enterprise license serial number. This makes it easy for users to upgrade via Manifold's Online Store, receive an email and instantly upgrade. This greatly reduces costs and hassles for users located in countries far away from the US, where transportation costs and delays make it inconvenient to upgrade via CD.

Support for Journalists and Reviewers

Journalists wishing a review package of Enterprise Edition should contact Dimitri Rotow at dar@manifold.net or 800-556-5919 [Pacific Time Zone].

About manifold.net

manifold.net is a privately held company that creates cool GIS software, database software and software for 3D data visualization. It is best known for Manifold System, one of the most sophisticated GIS software packages ever developed.

Contact: Dimitri Rotow, 800-556-5919 / dar@manifold.net

See Screen Shots of this product at the Enterprise Edition home page.

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