Progress Software has released its OpenEdge application development platform in its version 11 release. Hoping to target what the company somewhat generically labeled "operationally responsive" enterprise market with "business-process enabled software applications", the latest version has been honed to offer a multi-tenant database, multiple cloud deployment options, and extended platform support for mobile devices.

While Progress appears happy to position its no doubt diligently engineered products with what might be quite generalized market relevance, this latest platform is at least positioned to be compliant with concerns relating to return on investment (ROI), total cost of ownership (TCO), and security.

While many companies operating in the Business Process Management (BPM) space clearly find it hard to tangibly distill their software down to real-world command-line centric developer deployment levels, Progress is not alone in preferring to discuss "big picture" platform diversity messages. Whether this is because vendors in this category prefer to play for "share of voice" in front of the more board-level members of their customer base, or whether they have taken their eye off the coder's core requirements, is difficult to gauge.

The OpenEdge 11 release has multi-tenancy built into the database and physically separates data storage, providing greater security and control for cloud deployments. Colleen Smith, VP of platforms and integration at Progress Software, has been quoted as saying that, "Using the latest OpenEdge platform, our ISV partners can develop dynamic solutions that incorporate business process and integration capabilities across multiple platforms and devices in a secure manner. Whether deployed on-premise or in the cloud using the Progress Arcade portal, we offer a single, integrated, development platform that provides significant cost savings."

Progress says that in order to boost productivity and empower continuous process improvement, the Progress Savvion BPM platform has been fully integrated into OpenEdge 11. The full integration of BPM into an application development platform is highlighted as another feature of potential interest to IT developers and ISV partners alike.

At this time, the hunt for contemporary businesses with "operational unresponsiveness" continues…