Kiva updates servers

Kiva Software has updated its Internet application servers to better link to existing systems and development tools.

Kiva's Enterprise Server 2.0, combined with the company's Extension Toolkit 2.0, adds better management tools, extensions for linking to transaction monitors such as CICS and Tuxedo, and connectivity to CORBA services, the company said.

The company also said that version 2.0 of its Developer Studio tools works with Java, C and C++, and HTML, making development of applications easier.

Kiva is targeting its package at the high end of the business application market, for companies building large-scale intranet systems and Internet-based order processing applications. Kiva boasts that its servers power such high-volume sites as CitySearch and the Internet Shopping Network.

The company is pitting its application server software against competitors in an increasingly crowded field. Application servers, such as Kiva's Enterprise Server, Sybase's Jaguar CTS,and Microsoft's Transaction Server, combine the features of traditional transaction-processing monitors with specialized software for managing component transactions across the Internet and intranets.

Middleware packages, such as application servers, are intended to handle Web-based applications such as order entry, reservation, and electronic commerce systems that process thousands of transactions per minute against back-end databases.

Middleware--in all of its various forms--is becoming increasingly important as more companies expand existing client-server, mainframe, and simple Web-based information systems into new electronic commerce and order-entry applications.

Kiva Enterprise Server pricing starts at $25,000. The Developer Studio costs $1,295 per developer. Both packages will ship within 45 days, said the company. Extension Toolkit will ship early next year, priced at $3,995.