Case Studies | Intetics Co./ Web Space Station

Case Study

Saba Software, Inc. and Web Space Station^® Team Up for porting of Saba Dialog

Client

Saba Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: SABA) is a leading provider of Human Capital Development and Management solutions. Saba Dialog is a web-based system that powers informal collaboration and knowledge sharing between individuals and subject matter experts, including the ability to instant message with people, initiate and capture interactive question and answer sessions, organize them in a relevant directory, and recall that knowledge for subsequent re-use.

Challenge

Saba Dialog is a truly dynamic Web application. It was created to use the latest Internet Explorer 5.0 features including DHTML and XML. The server side of Saba Dialog, IMX (Instant Message eXchange server), was originally designed to work on Windows platform and use Oracle as a backend database. IMX server exchanges information between Web clients in XML format and is scalable to handle a huge number of users. Saba required porting applications to different Web browsers, porting IMX Server from Windows to Linux and Solaris, and using MS SQL Server as a backend database.

Solution

Porting to different browsers
Custom engine has been developed to do XML processing for older browsers. The engine was created in Java and JavaScript; also significant optimization for performance was done.
Porting IMX Server from Windows to Linux and Solaris platforms
POSIX threads have been used to provide necessary scalability on Linux and Solaris. Xerces XML parser has been used instead of MS XML parser. GCC compiler has been used instead of Microsoft Visual C++. ICU library (from IBM) has been used to provide UNICODE support in XML messages.
MS SQL server as a backend database
A special suite of unit tests has been developed in Java for all procedures in both Oracle and SQL Server databases. After the database scripts had been ported to MS SQL Server, tests were run against both databases and results were compared.

Technologies Utilized

Windows, Solaris, Linux
Oracle, MS SQLServer, JDBC
C++, Java, JSP, JavaScript, DHTML, XML, UNICODE
Xerces, GCC , ICU, JDK 1.3

Results

The project was finished in time and exactly according to Saba specifications. Now the enhanced product works well and services a great number of new Saba customers.