Baan V: A New Version

From vertical-industry customization to open APIs to three-tiered architectures, packaged-application players pack as much new technology as possible into their upgrades -- the better to lure new customers and raise the barriers to entry for potential competitors. The cycle time between upgrades has quickened during the past couple of years, with many vendors adhering to an almost-annual upgrade schedule. Baan is no exception.

The next version of Baan's software, Baan V, is scheduled to ship early this year. Although Baan officials are tight-lipped about what to expect in the upgrade, certain predictions are more likely to become reality than others. Baan's recent acquisition binge, for example, means the next version of its software package will probably boast better integration with such applications as Aurum Software's sales-automation program, as well as with applications from vendors that Baan didn't acquire but has strategic partnerships with, such as Hyperion's financial s line of software. "All this stuff has to work together, or it's a lot of money not well spent for Baan," explains Dennis Byron, a vertical-industry analyst in the Packaged Applications Group at International Data Corp. (IDC), an industry consultancy in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Some of Baan's customers say they would like the next release to reflect Baan's promise to embrace Java. Analysts say that's a reasonable expectation. The Baan upgrade is likely to embed Java technology, though probably only on the client side.

Almost all distributed-application providers run the risk of a racing pulse at the mere mention of the supply chain, so a continued emphasis on providing supply-chain-automation and selling-chain-automation capabilities is another probable enhancement to Baan V. This emphasis is likely to take the form of new modules and new functionality in existing modules. Along the same lines, look for Baan to enhance its vertical-industry applications, especially in terms of industry-specific functionality.

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Open Object-Based Architecture

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The Baan Open Interfaces let developers create apps that interact directly with Baan's internals.