Edge Dynamics launches new breed of enterprise app

Enterprise software takes an evolutionary step forward as Edge Dynamics and Tibco Software develop software that combines elements of both ERP and BI applications.

This week, Edge Dynamics unveils Edge 2.0, a hybrid software that combines transaction processing with analytics that alerts a company that a transaction may be tracking negatively before it is completed. The software sits in front of a core system such as SAP and looks at orders as they arrive, applying analytics inline before the orders go on to the order management system.

The software can analyze trade agreements between wholesalers and manufacturers to ensure wholesalers are adhering to them. “There are always concerns that wholesalers are stockpiling inventory in advance of a price increase. This kind of speculative buying can be detected on an order-by-order basis,” said John McGrory, president and CEO of Edge Dynamics.

Julie Fraser, an analyst at Industry Directions, called this new breed of enterprise software “interenterprise transaction systems.”

“The goal of ERP is to make each transaction within the enterprise as consistent as possible. These interenterprise systems need to create consistency in each trading partner relationship, but each relationship is quite different with different rules and policies,” Fraser said.

Tibco Software will use CEP (complex event processing) technology to monitor business and IT events and put them in a business context. Tibco will launch its product next year.

Josh Greenbaum, senior analyst at Enterprise Applications, said that these applications give a “telescopic view of what’s coming down the road rather than a view through the rearview mirror.”