Caché, the post-relational database for e-applications

"Caché Web technology provides the best integrated, Internet application development environment I have ever seen."

So says John Bertoglio, CIO of PulsePoll, an InterSystems VAR, and developer of innovative applications for community Web sites. Nor is John alone in his enthusiasm. All around the world, developers whose Web applications require speed, scalability, and industrial-strength transaction processing are enthusiastically turning to Caché for e-application development.

The reason? Caché is the only Web development environment to combine easy and rapid creation of sophisticated e-applications with the massive scalability and lightning-fast performance of a post-relational database. And, Caché promotes collaboration between Web interface designers and transaction processing specialists instead of requiring developers to be experts in both fields.

A Unique Web Architecture

One of the features that makes Caché optimized for e-applications is its unique Web architecture. Caché Server Pages run on the Caché data server, taking advantage of fast in-process access to data. Caché-based e-applications are quick and easy to adapt because all the code resides in one place, and scalable because the Web server doesn't get bogged down with lots of resource-intensive processing.

Easy & Rapid Web Development

Caché Server pages consist of standard HTML or XML, so they can be created and modified using any text editor or off-the-shelf Web page creation tool. Applications can be designed as though they were a series of static Web pages. Navigation through these pages is handled automatically by Caché. Functionality (the working part of any Web application) is added by incorporating Caché Applications Tags or Hyper-Events™.

Caché Application Tags (CATs) work like HTML tags, except instead of formatting text, they execute functions on the data servers and/or browsers. CATs may be used to perform a variety of functions, such as:

• Fetch data to populate fields in forms.
• Validate information entered into forms by users.
• Transform coded or calculated items.
• Save data back to the Caché database.
• Control the HTML written to the browser, for example, by creating loops to generate rows in a table dynamically, or by creating conditions that include or exclude parts of the page.
• CATs are extensible, so developers can create tags to fit the needs of specific applications. Once created, Web designers can use CATs to add functionality to their pages, without worrying about the processing details.

Caché Server Pages may also include Hyper-Events™ that enable browser events (clicks, mouse movements, timeouts, etc.) to trigger database actions without waiting for an entire page to be submitted. This allows Web applications to be much more interactive and responsive to users.

Simplified Session Management for Transaction Processing

One of the greatest challenges facing e-developers is the inherently stateless nature of the Web. Usually, once a server sends a page, it forgets all about it, which can make completing transactions difficult. Web application developers spend most of their effort making it appear as though a series of independent "page hits" is a single session between browser, Web server, and database. But Caché encapsulates all that system-level programming into Caché session objects, thereby making session management much easier. Session management objects work with both HTTP, and (for secure transactions) HTTPS. In addition, for more complicated transactions, or those that require multi-page database locks, Caché allows the use of dedicated session processes.

Caché's Web Development Benefits

Caché is the fastest way to prototype and build Web applications. It encapsulates the tedious coding associated with state maintenance, allowing developers to concentrate on the look, feel, and utility of their applications. And Caché's Web architecture uniquely enables quick and easy adaptation of e-applications.

Caché also allows Web development to be a collaborative effort between Web interface designers and transaction processing experts. Each can work within their own area of expertise - Web designers creating the pages through which users will navigate, and application programmers creating the Caché Application Tags that add functionality to the pages. Not only does this approach speed the development process, it eliminates the need for a "super-developer" who is expert at both tasks.

Drive e-Applications with the Power of Post-Relational Caché

Caché is a powerful post-relational database management system that is optimized for high-performance Web transaction processing. Its efficient multidimensional data engine significantly outperforms relational databases and is well-suited for storing complex data and objects. Caché's object orientation makes it a perfect match for Web technologies such as Java, HTML, DHTML, and XML. In a recent report, Bloor Research (a leading European analyst firm) found that "Caché is eminently suitable for large OLTP environments, particularly those in which there is complex business logic or multimedia requirements, such as are typical for Web-enabled or e-Commerce applications."

Caché Web Technology Around The World

The Web spans the whole planet, and so do InterSystems' customers. (By the way, Caché supports Unicode, and is available in several languages.) Here's a brief, partial list of some of the exciting and innovative Web applications that have been created using Caché.

Ameritrade, one of the biggest on-line stock brokerages in the United States, is using Caché Web technology to build an Intranet for their Back Office System based on Caché.

Autohaus Wiest is a Volkswagen and Audi dealership in Germany that publishes its used car offers on the Web, directly from a Caché database.

The Credit Information Center for the Americas (CICLA) is the leading credit bureau in the Dominican Republic. The Web interface they developed for their Caché-based credit report application provides easy access for clients throughout the country, and simplifies application deployment and maintenance.

Disc Computing, an Australian-based VAR, makes a point-of-sale application that gives retailers everything they need to run their business on the Web, including on-line catalog creation and maintenance, order processing, and inventory control.

The Globo TV Network, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, uses a Caché application deployed on its 1000-station Intranet to allow free-text queries on their library of stored images, gathered during 30 years of TV broadcasting.

The G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital in Arcadia, Florida uses a Web interface to integrate data from a variety of applications and systems. The key module of their operations is the Admissions, Discharge, Transfer (ADT) application, which they developed in just a few months using Caché Web technology The ADT application won the 1999 Caché Innovator Award.

Innsite Hotel Services, Ltd. in the United Kingdom used Caché to develop a complete management application for hotel chains, including centralized reservations, billing, and accounting functions. The browser-based interface reduces cost of ownership and makes it easier to train employees to use the system.

Hermes Pardini Laboratories from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, developed a Caché-based application that enables employees and customers to find and track patient orders, and view test results on-line.

Integrated Software Solutions, an American financial VAR, created a Web-based application for stock proxy voting using Caché Web technology.

The Justice Court of the State of Santa Catarina in Brazil uses Caché to maintain a central repository of legal documents, and to manage judges’ time and workflow.

Kasper Spielwarenversand is a German toy shop that runs its whole online business with a Caché-based application.

MEDOS, an InterSystems VAR with over 20 years of experience in hospital information systems throughout Central Europe and Scandinavia, uses the Web for data integration. They sell an application that assembles comprehensive patient records from information stored in various systems throughout the hospital. They say that Caché’s lightning-fast performance and ability to handle complex data is a key ingredient to their success.

National Systems, an InterSystems’ VAR, is currently testing a Caché-based ordering system in the San Diego market for Domino’s Pizza. Now those customers don’t have to look up the phone number – they just go to the website to order pizza, and their orders are automatically relayed to the appropriate Domino’s for fast, reliable service.

The Oxford-Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust in the United Kingdom provides another example of integrating medical information with a Web interface. Their Caché-based Oxford Clinical Intranet project won the "Project of the Year" at the prestigious IM’98 Awards sponsored by Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group.

PALTAC, the largest consumer-products logistics company in Japan, uses Caché Web technology extensively for their warehouse management and inventory systems.

Panarelo is one of the largest medicine distributors in Brazil. They have a Web site, powered by Caché, that allows customers to order items and follow up on their orders.

Partners HealthCare System, Inc. is one of the premier health care providers in the United States, and maintains the largest integrated client/server system in the world. Their employee paging system, built using Caché Web technology, was given an Honorable Mention by Application Development Trends magazine when they announced their 1999 Innovator Awards.

Personify, an InterSystems VAR, sells Caché-based e-business profiling applications to customers like eToys, Novell, Petopia.com, Realtor.com, Nordstrom, Hewlett Packard, and Volvo, to name but a few.

Planetbook.com is a German-based on-line bookstore that runs their business on Caché. They have a searchable database of over 1.5 million books, CD-ROMS, audio books and videos.

PulsePoll.com makes a Caché-based Web polling application, specifically designed for news and community Web sites.

Quintessenz GmbH offers on-line access to a database of funds, providing both numerical and graphical reports to its users. The Caché database is updated daily directly from the Frankfurt stock exchange.

Reisen-mit-Preisen uses Caché Web technology to run a free on-line travel guide and reservation system for over 45,00 hotels and other accommodations in Germany.

At the San Bernadino Medical Group, nurses needed Web access, but they liked the speed and convenience of the character-based interfaces they currently used. The development team used Caché with DHTML and Cascading Style Sheets to create speedy browser-based interfaces with a familiar look and feel, that could be used without ever touching a mouse.

Schmidt & Wagner is an ISP in Germany. When they develop high-performance Web applications for their clients, they know they can rely on Caché’s speed and rapid development capabilities.

Scoutmaster is a German Internet search engine that is powered by Caché.