Intrexx
Encyclopedia
Intrexx is an integrated cross-platform development environment for the creation and operation of web-based applications, enterprise portals
and intranet portals
. A portal is created according to the drag and drop principle
, without the need for programming.
Milestones:
Intrexx Portal Manager
It is installed on any client
or on the server
and possesses all the components for developing and managing layout, menu or applications. Also the setup of the users with the rights to the respective applications of an portal
takes place in the Portal Manager of Intrexx.
Intrexx Portal Server
It is installed on a server
and controls all transactions of the created web-based applications and portals
. It monitors the rights of the users within the transactions, controls the entire business logic
operations and governs access to the data sources.
and enterprise portals
. In doing so, the software sees itself as an alternative to Microsoft SharePoint
, IBM WebSphere
and SAP NetWeaver Portal. Design and usability
of the portal
are provided by the integrated portal designer based on CSS
and XML
, enabling the adoption to the corporate identity
of the company via XSL
-transformations. Single sign-on
guarantees a secure authentication and role-based authorization. The synchronization with existing LDAP
-servers is possible.
Intrexx is based on Java
and contains the following modules:
Designer
The Designer allows enterprises to create their portal layout according to their individual corporate identity
: colors, fonts, symbols, buttons and menu structures can be selected via mouse click from lists as well as a multitude of already premade design templates.
Applications
With the Application Designer, applications
and forms can be created without programming knowledge - via drag and drop. With the help of a wizard, users select the desired edit and output controls, as well as the required buttons, and create applications - for the desktop PC, laptop, and smartphone.
Processes
Thanks to the graphical interface of the Process Designer, processes can be transferred into electronic workflows
and automated by Drag-and-drop
. The user can also define conditions and actions.
Users
In the User Manager, one can define who may access which applications and functions in the portal. It is possible to make the access rights dependent on the function of the employee or combine specific employees into one rights group.
Integration
With Intrexx, users have direct read and write access to almost any database
in an enterprise, as well as import or export its data. In the same way, ERP
systems like SAP ERP
can be connected with read and/or write scenarios.
Tools
Intrexx contains different tools that support the administrator
in his/her work. A System Monitor, for example, shows the current system load, the activities in the enterprise portal
, the status of memory use, and the connections to the database
as well. The Task Planner delivers an overview of all running processes.
), IBM Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange
(2003/2007/2010) as well as the integration of JDBC databases. A special Business Adapter for Microsoft Office
also allows the organization of Microsoft Office Documents within the enterprise portal
.
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
and intranet portals
Intranet portal
An intranet portal is the gateway that unifies access to all enterprise information and applications on an intranet. It is a tool that helps a company manage its data, applications, and information more easily, and through personalized views. Some portal solutions today are able to integrate legacy...
. A portal is created according to the drag and drop principle
Drag-and-drop
In computer graphical user interfaces, drag-and-drop is the action of selecting a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object...
, without the need for programming.
History
The first version of the software was established by the German software vendor United Planet in 1999 under the name “Intrazone”. In the year 2000, the software was re-named in “Intrexx Xtreme”. With the release of Intrexx 5.0 in March 2010, the product line split into the editions Intrexx Professional and Intrexx Compact. Intrexx Professional is the continuation of the Xtreme series and still addresses medium sized companies, organizations and public administrations. Intrexx Compact contains a complete company portal with more than 50 ready-made web-applications and templates. It especially addresses the target group of SMBs with up to 25 PC workstations. According to the manufacturer, there have been implemented more than 3.500 Intrexx portals by now (State: 2011) .Milestones:
- Intrexx 2.0 (2004): Enlargement of the possibility to integrate existing data from third party systems
- Intrexx 3.0 (2006): Integration of a so called “Process Manager“, allowing companies to transfer business processesBusiness processA business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers...
graphically, connect them and to automate them.
- Intrexx 4.0 (2007): Possibility to consummate and provide web servicesWeb serviceA Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
- Intrexx 4.5 (2008): Integration of the dynamic programming language „Groovy“
- Intrexx 5.0 (2010):
- Intrexx provides the possibility to convert web-based applications during their creation to be accessed from mobile devices without programming.
- Enlargement of accessibility according to the W3C standards
Architecture
Intrexx basically consists of two parts:Intrexx Portal Manager
It is installed on any client
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
or on the server
Server
Server may refer to:In computing:*Server , a server application, operating system, computer, or applianceIn jobs and roles:* Altar server, an acolyte who assists the clergy during services...
and possesses all the components for developing and managing layout, menu or applications. Also the setup of the users with the rights to the respective applications of an portal
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
takes place in the Portal Manager of Intrexx.
Intrexx Portal Server
It is installed on a server
Server
Server may refer to:In computing:*Server , a server application, operating system, computer, or applianceIn jobs and roles:* Altar server, an acolyte who assists the clergy during services...
and controls all transactions of the created web-based applications and portals
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
. It monitors the rights of the users within the transactions, controls the entire business logic
Business logic
Business logic, or domain logic, is a non-technical term generally used to describe the functional algorithms that handle information exchange between a database and a user interface.- Scope of business logic :Business logic:...
operations and governs access to the data sources.
Functions
Intrexx provides companies with the possibility to create and manage multi-lingual web-based applications, intranet portalsIntranet portal
An intranet portal is the gateway that unifies access to all enterprise information and applications on an intranet. It is a tool that helps a company manage its data, applications, and information more easily, and through personalized views. Some portal solutions today are able to integrate legacy...
and enterprise portals
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
. In doing so, the software sees itself as an alternative to Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint is a web application platform developed by Microsoft. First launched in 2001, SharePoint is typically associated with web content management and document management systems, but it is actually a much broader platform of web technologies, capable of being configured into a wide...
, IBM WebSphere
IBM WebSphere
IBM WebSphere refers to a brand of computer software products in the genre of enterprise software known as "application and integration middleware". These software products are used by end-users to create applications and integrate applications with other applications...
and SAP NetWeaver Portal. Design and usability
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
of the portal
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
are provided by the integrated portal designer based on CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
and XML
Extensible Markup Language
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, enabling the adoption to the corporate identity
Corporate identity
In Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
of the company via XSL
Extensible Stylesheet Language
In computing, the term Extensible Stylesheet Language is used to refer to a family oflanguages used to transform and render XML documents....
-transformations. Single sign-on
Single sign-on
Single sign-on is a property of access control of multiple related, but independent software systems. With this property a user logs in once and gains access to all systems without being prompted to log in again at each of them...
guarantees a secure authentication and role-based authorization. The synchronization with existing LDAP
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...
-servers is possible.
Intrexx is based on Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
and contains the following modules:
Designer
The Designer allows enterprises to create their portal layout according to their individual corporate identity
Corporate identity
In Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
: colors, fonts, symbols, buttons and menu structures can be selected via mouse click from lists as well as a multitude of already premade design templates.
Applications
With the Application Designer, applications
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
and forms can be created without programming knowledge - via drag and drop. With the help of a wizard, users select the desired edit and output controls, as well as the required buttons, and create applications - for the desktop PC, laptop, and smartphone.
Processes
Thanks to the graphical interface of the Process Designer, processes can be transferred into electronic workflows
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
and automated by Drag-and-drop
Drag-and-drop
In computer graphical user interfaces, drag-and-drop is the action of selecting a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object...
. The user can also define conditions and actions.
Users
In the User Manager, one can define who may access which applications and functions in the portal. It is possible to make the access rights dependent on the function of the employee or combine specific employees into one rights group.
Integration
With Intrexx, users have direct read and write access to almost any database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
in an enterprise, as well as import or export its data. In the same way, ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
systems like SAP ERP
SAP ERP
The SAP ERP application is an integrated enterprise resource planning software manufactured by SAP AG that targets business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in all industries and sectors...
can be connected with read and/or write scenarios.
Tools
Intrexx contains different tools that support the administrator
System administrator
A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network...
in his/her work. A System Monitor, for example, shows the current system load, the activities in the enterprise portal
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
, the status of memory use, and the connections to the database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
as well. The Task Planner delivers an overview of all running processes.
Interfaces
Special Business Integration Adapters allow the integration of data from third party systems such as SAP (SAP Business Suite, SAP Business OneSAP Business One
SAP Business One is an integrated enterprise resource planning solution for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as divisions and subsidiaries of larger companies. Produced by SAP, the solution is intended to assist companies by providing support for sales, customer relationships, inventory,...
), IBM Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
(2003/2007/2010) as well as the integration of JDBC databases. A special Business Adapter for Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
also allows the organization of Microsoft Office Documents within the enterprise portal
Enterprise portal
An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...
.
Ready-made applications
Similar to Apple the vendor United Planet offers ready-made business applications, forms, processes and layout templates in the so called Intrexx Application StoreAwards
- JDK.de Innovation Award (Jdk.de, 2009)
- Jury list „Großer Preis des Mittelstandes (2009, 2011)
- Nominated for JAX Innovation Award (2008)
- Innovation Award in the category SOA (Initiative Mittelstand, 2008)
- Innovation Award of the German Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Ministry of Economics Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, 2005)
- Innovation Award of the City of Freiburg (City of Freiburg, 2004)
- Product of the Year (PC-Magazine, 2000/2001, 2001/2002, 2002/2003)
- Newcomer of the Year (Computer Reseller News, 2001)
- Winner of the Intranet Benchmark Test (Internet Professional, 2000)