Technology Overview

ZDG applications utilize Open Source technology coupled with an Extreme Programming (XP) development model.

Intranet to Internet

A software product may initially be developed for internal (Intranet) use only. Down the road, the client may want customers to have access to a simplified version of the program to perform some design studies or to get an on-line estimate.

Using web-based technology from the start means that getting the software to the internet will be easy.

There is no need to distribute software CD's or worry about maintaining and supporting multiple versions of the software. Customers have access to the latest software whenever they visit your website.

Independence of Operating System

Using Internet technologies, software products can be developed on readily available Windows systems and then migrated to a more stable Linux or UNIX server for production release.

Open Source in Your Organization

If you are under the impression that Open Source software isn't for your company, think again. Open Source is being utilized by corporations large and small.

There are several potential drawbacks to a proprietary software solution:

• Since proprietary software source code is not open to public scrutiny, it is often more insecure than open source software
• You are locked into a single source for primary support
• Third party products are hard to find - or very expensive - because the vendor likely charges for their proprietary development environment
• Upgrade paths and upgrade timing are dictated by the vendor
• Consultants can be very expensive (and sometimes not very good)
• Development cycles are slow - bugs in the software may not be fixed for months or even years

Open Source Programs

Typically, one or more of the following Open Source technologies are used in software development projects:

• Apache Web Server (usually in combination with mod_perl)
• Zope and Plone
• MySQL
• Perl
• HTML/XML/JavaScript
• Scalable Vector Graphics (for displaying dynamic CAD data in a web-browser)
• Java

Proprietary Programs

For reasons of CAD interoperability and legacy systems ZDG has demonstrated the ability to link the following tools into an open source framework. This means your company can begin transitioning to Open Source without creating downtime or undergoing the hassles of learning a new system.

• IBM DB2
• JD Edwards
• Microsoft Access or Excel
• Microsoft Visual C++ / Basic
• C/C++
• CAD-specific macro programming language