New Program Manages Files on a Network
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
SoftSolution has announced a network-based document management
system for IBM-compatible machines. The new PerfectSolution,
which works with Novell, 3Com, Banyan, and IBM Token Ring LANs,
can handle all types of data files; not just documents, but
spreadsheets and graphics files as well. The product costs $2495
for the server, plus $295 per workstation, which has to be a DOS
machine with at least 512K but preferably 640K of memory).
 
One of PerfectSolution's best features is its full-text indexing,
which the company claims is very fast, very dynamic, and based on
a small index. A full-text index can be very large, sometimes
almost 50 percent as large as the original document. For its
searching capabilities, SoftSolution has licensed a technique,
called SpeedSearch, that uses a compressed index that never gets
to be more than 5 percent of the size of the original text.
 
The small size of the index allows PerfectSolution to index even
archived material, i.e., text that has been moved to tape
cartridges. When an archived file is requested, PerfectSolution
asks the system manager to remount the exact tape that is
required, the company said.
 
PerfectSolution also helps ease the everyday management of
data files. The user designates each data file as a certain
type, and the data file is automatically backed up or archived
at a certain date, depending on the properties associated
with that type. In addition, access to view or revise the
datafile is granted based on the type. The user can devise on
any number of types along with the archive and security
properties of that type.
 
Like other document management programs, PerfectSolution keeps a
"profile" on every datafile, i.e., a screen of attributes
describing the file, the associated application program, date
created, date last revised (and by whom), and actual physical
name. The company says its program can locate any file on
any server or client anywhere on the network.
 
PerfectSolution is slated to be available December 15.
 
Contact: SoftSolution, 625 South State, Orem, UT 84058;
(801) 226-6000; fax (801) 224-0920.
 
                              --- Rich Malloy
 
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