Imagine a powerful office application like a spreadsheet, word processor, or mail program that never needed to be installed on your computer. Imagine too, that you were always running the latest version of the program. What if you were upgrading to a new machine and never having to copy files or re-install your programs. Finally, if all your critical information was instantly and securely saved so it would not get lost even if your machine caught fire, would that not be a huge step foreward? Installation, support, and maintenance costs would all be drastically lower. You and your employees would stop fighting with computers and concentrate on the business at hand. Java Applets

Programs written with Java five years ago still run today. That is difficult to say about any other software technology. These programs can be picked up and run on new and different machines. That is next to impossible to say about any other technology. Ten years from now, they will still run. An investment in Java technology will pay off more quickly and have a longer useful life-cycle than any other. Java

The Internet has forever changed the face of software development. Applications can be instantly accessible from anywhere. Many will agree that Java is responsible for some of this success, especially since it now works on servers running Windows, UNIX, and even mainframe computers. Java Swing has the same effect on client computing. It combines the comfortable feel of a normal office application together with the power of distributed computing. Our history with Java

Imagine a powerful office application like a spreadsheet, word processor, or mail program that never needed to be installed on your computer. Imagine too, that you were always running the latest version of the program. What if you were upgrading to a new machine and never having to copy files or re-install your programs. Finally, if all your critical information was instantly and securely saved so it would not get lost even if your machine caught fire, would that not be a huge step foreward? Installation, support, and maintenance costs would all be drastically lower. You and your employees would stop fighting with computers and concentrate on the business at hand. Java Applets

Programs written with Java five years ago still run today. That is difficult to say about any other software technology. These programs can be picked up and run on new and different machines. That is next to impossible to say about any other technology. Ten years from now, they will still run. An investment in Java technology will pay off more quickly and have a longer useful life-cycle than any other. Java

The Internet has forever changed the face of software development. Applications can be instantly accessible from anywhere. Many will agree that Java is responsible for some of this success, especially since it now works on servers running Windows, UNIX, and even mainframe computers. Java Swing has the same effect on client computing. It combines the comfortable feel of a normal office application together with the power of distributed computing. Our history with Java

Our history with Java

In 1998, the Risktrac division of Liberty Mutual Insurance in Portsmouth, NH approached IBM for help in turning their existing client-server software product, distributed on CD, into a new generation of Web application. Looking at the complexities of screens and required interactions, IBM brought up the possibility of utilizing a little-known Java technology called Swing.

IBM approached MTC founder Stephen Mauro about joining its team of five developers in order to make this happen. Within five months he became the de facto system architect and lead developer. Four months later version one of Risktrac.NXT was deployed. Shortly thereafter he was brought back to lead a group of seventeen developers as the worked on subsequent versions of NXT. In addition, he spearheaded the design and development of another claims-risk management application called EIS. Both products are still in production with thousands of subscriber clients. Among some of those client who use this product every day are companies such as United Parcel Service, JC Penney, as well as IBM.

IBM later engaged MTC to work on a project for Fleet Bank in Hartford, Connecticut. MTC was able to take their experience constructing this Java-Swing based type of application. The deadline to get into production was only fourteen weeks. The application was running in twelve based largely on the fact that this was the third time this type of application had been built: faster, smaller, and more efficient. Fleet had internal developers they wanted trained as well and so MTC took responsibility for both developing this application as quickly as possible and training the new team.

Shortly after this, MTC gathered together a group of programmers to engage in doing more and similar projects for clients. Over the last number of months we designed, built, and deployed three versions of a derivatives portfolio management application called Climetrix for a Silicon Valley based company called Risk Management Solutions. The application involves complex pricing and instantaneous mark-to-market portfolio valuations. These pricing analytic modules are fed via J2EE server modules and database information accessed via JDBC and stored procedures.These pricing analytic modules are fed via J2EE server modules and database information accessed via JDBC and stored procedures.

End-user customers include such companies as Goldman Sachs, Chubb, Enron, and El Paso Energy among others. All have been able to utilize the system to replace their own internal contract and portfolio pricing systems. Because the system utilizes the latest distributed Java Swing and Applet technologies, clients use the system through a web browser but the experience is profoundly different, i.e. resembling a full-scale windows application.

Return to summaries.

Our history with Java

In 1998, the Risktrac division of Liberty Mutual Insurance in Portsmouth, NH approached IBM for help in turning their existing client-server software product, distributed on CD, into a new generation of Web application. Looking at the complexities of screens and required interactions, IBM brought up the possibility of utilizing a little-known Java technology called Swing.

IBM approached MTC founder Stephen Mauro about joining its team of five developers in order to make this happen. Within five months he became the de facto system architect and lead developer. Four months later version one of Risktrac.NXT was deployed. Shortly thereafter he was brought back to lead a group of seventeen developers as the worked on subsequent versions of NXT. In addition, he spearheaded the design and development of another claims-risk management application called EIS. Both products are still in production with thousands of subscriber clients. Among some of those client who use this product every day are companies such as United Parcel Service, JC Penney, as well as IBM.

IBM later engaged MTC to work on a project for Fleet Bank in Hartford, Connecticut. MTC was able to take their experience constructing this Java-Swing based type of application. The deadline to get into production was only fourteen weeks. The application was running in twelve based largely on the fact that this was the third time this type of application had been built: faster, smaller, and more efficient. Fleet had internal developers they wanted trained as well and so MTC took responsibility for both developing this application as quickly as possible and training the new team.

Shortly after this, MTC gathered together a group of programmers to engage in doing more and similar projects for clients. Over the last number of months we designed, built, and deployed three versions of a derivatives portfolio management application called Climetrix for a Silicon Valley based company called Risk Management Solutions. The application involves complex pricing and instantaneous mark-to-market portfolio valuations. These pricing analytic modules are fed via J2EE server modules and database information accessed via JDBC and stored procedures.These pricing analytic modules are fed via J2EE server modules and database information accessed via JDBC and stored procedures.

End-user customers include such companies as Goldman Sachs, Chubb, Enron, and El Paso Energy among others. All have been able to utilize the system to replace their own internal contract and portfolio pricing systems. Because the system utilizes the latest distributed Java Swing and Applet technologies, clients use the system through a web browser but the experience is profoundly different, i.e. resembling a full-scale windows application.

Return to summaries.

Java is more than just a programming language.

It started in 1995 by engineers at Sun Microsystems as a language attempted to include many features that programmers who work in other languages like C, C++, FORTRAN, and COBOL had to recreate every time they wrote a program. Five of the most important features that were incorporated into Java were:

• Automatic connectivity to databases.
• Automatic connectivity to the Internet.
• Something called multiple-threads, which lets a Java program perform a number of tasks at the same time.
• Compatibility with older versions of Java, which meant that programs written in Java five years ago still work today and will still work ten years from now.
• An ability to run inside of web pages to interact with users called Applets

Java has grown significantly over the last five years. With every new version, its capabilities keep growing. Not only is there a standard version, but there is an enterprise version which includes features and functionality that the largest companies in the world deploy to solve many business problems. Java is also found in cell phones and cable-television systems boxes. For more information, go to http://www.javasoft.com/products

Return to summaries.

Java is more than just a programming language.

It started in 1995 by engineers at Sun Microsystems as a language attempted to include many features that programmers who work in other languages like C, C++, FORTRAN, and COBOL had to recreate every time they wrote a program. Five of the most important features that were incorporated into Java were:

• Automatic connectivity to databases.
• Automatic connectivity to the Internet.
• Something called multiple-threads, which lets a Java program perform a number of tasks at the same time.
• Compatibility with older versions of Java, which meant that programs written in Java five years ago still work today and will still work ten years from now.
• An ability to run inside of web pages to interact with users called Applets

Java has grown significantly over the last five years. With every new version, its capabilities keep growing. Not only is there a standard version, but there is an enterprise version which includes features and functionality that the largest companies in the world deploy to solve many business problems. Java is also found in cell phones and cable-television systems boxes. For more information, go to http://www.javasoft.com/products

Return to summaries.

An Applet is a Java program that can be included in a web page. When a program like Netscape or Internet Explorer shows a page that contains an applet, the applet will run via the browser. It appears as if the software is installed on the computer, but it is not. This means that:

• The program is never installed on the computer. This takes a lot of time and often costs money. Software is usually installed from CD's or diskettes in order to work. Applets avoid this.
• The program is always the latest version. No more changes or new installations are necessary since the latest version is available on the web page where the applet exists.
• The program stores data on the servers where it came from. A user can go from one machine to another machine and can use the program with all of the same information. If a computer is damaged or destroyed, a user will not lose any work.

People who know computer technologies recognize this concept as distributed computing. Applets look and act like the latest software program with menus, toolbars, and icons. But applets have all of the advantages discussed above.

Return to summaries.

An Applet is a Java program that can be included in a web page. When a program like Netscape or Internet Explorer shows a page that contains an applet, the applet will run via the browser. It appears as if the software is installed on the computer, but it is not. This means that:

• The program is never installed on the computer. This takes a lot of time and often costs money. Software is usually installed from CD's or diskettes in order to work. Applets avoid this.
• The program is always the latest version. No more changes or new installations are necessary since the latest version is available on the web page where the applet exists.
• The program stores data on the servers where it came from. A user can go from one machine to another machine and can use the program with all of the same information. If a computer is damaged or destroyed, a user will not lose any work.

People who know computer technologies recognize this concept as distributed computing. Applets look and act like the latest software program with menus, toolbars, and icons. But applets have all of the advantages discussed above.

Return to summaries.