Parallel Crystal Version 2.7.1/3.7.1

Key Features of Parallel Crystal Version 2.7.1/3.7.1 include:
PCRE 2.7.0 (September 2002), PCRE 2.7.1/3.7.1 (May 2003)

• Designating reports as high, medium, or low priority to finely control their queuing and processing under very high concurrency conditions.
  
• Storing report templates in an EJB repository to allow sharing of consistent report templates (.rpt's) between report servers in a load balancing/failover farm configuration
  
• Storing report output in an EJB repository to allow archiving and retrieval of older reports
  
• Returning files as streams to be displayed on browsers or any viewers without having to write them to disk.
  
• Archived File Return for faster file return on very large reports or reports having multiple files, like html outputs.
  
• PDF, HTML, RTF, PNG, JPG and SVG generation and optional concatenation of reports from Dynalivery's second product, the Saffron Document Server (rather than via Crystal Reports "Export" DLLs) for high fidelity output approaching the quality of PDF.
  
• Registry setting to allow customers to specify the NIC to which Parallel Crystal is bound.
  
• Performance Factor setting in the PCRE registry to evenly balance load over dissimilar report servers, each potentially purchased at different times, with different processing power.
  
• Registry setting for CORBA GIOP protocol level (1.0, 1.1, 1.2) to enable communication with web/portal servers based on older Object Request Brokers (ORBs).
  

Key Features of Parallel Crystal versions 2.5 and 2.6/3.6 include:

• Replacing FTP with CORBA IIOP for faster file return.
  
• Introducing Throttles/Queues for greater throughput and graceful management of load spikes.
  Maximum throughput and maximum concurrency are conflicting optimizations. A report server will reach its maximum throughput at a low concurrent report/CPU ratio. Above this range, it will still operate reliably. However, an increasing proportion of its power will be dissipated by context switching. The new throttle in PCRE v2.6/3.6 will allow customers to specify the maximum number of concurrent reports. Above the throttle, report requests are temporarily queued.
• Data acquisition from multiple JDBC or ADO result sets in DOR
  PCRE v2.6/3.6 will now accept data from multiple remote persistent objects, including Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs), making the representation of data at design-time easy to understand.
• New COM library that closely resembles the methods in our Java library so that support, documentation, and sample code will be much more consistent across our products. It also solves the intermittent "console logoff" error that some of our customers receive under Microsoft IIS/ASP.
• Timeout of Orphan Report Engines. If a client machine hangs or becomes unavailable while the report server is rendering a report, the Job will timeout gracefully.
• Increased error checking on passing parameters to report engines. If a client machine marshals incorrect run-time parameters, the report server could hang. We now more strictly test parameters to prevent hangs.
• PDF Library that will now use Intel MMX instructions in its algorithm to compress bitmaps (such as logos) into jpegs for faster PDF generation.

Dynalivery To Expand Its Support of Reporting Tools Beyond Crystal Reports;
Parallel Crystal becomes independent of OEM source code from Crystal Decisions

Integration and Compatibility

Developers can access Parallel Crystal from internally developed programs as well as many Web Portal Servers. Parallel Crystal comes with a number of freely distributable clients including Java and COM.

Parallel Crystal Integration Possibilities:

• Users of Java based Web Portal Servers, such as WebLogic, WebSphere, JRun, SilverStream, JBoss, ColdFusion and JSP users can integrate directly with Parallel Crystal's Java client.
  
• The Parallel Crystal Report Server also features an enhanced, thread- safe COM API for use by existing Crystal Reports, Microsoft IIS/ASP, and ASP.NET users.
  

Parallel Crystal Version 2.6 is compatible with:·

• Crystal Decisions Crystal Reports v7.0.1.100
  
• Windows NT v4.0 (Service Pack 4 or greater)
  
• Java 1.2+, or Microsoft COM

Parallel Crystal Version 3.6 is compatible with:·

• Crystal Decisions Crystal Reports v8.5.0.272
  
• Windows NT v4.0 (Service Pack 4 or greater) or Windows 2000
  
• Java 1.2+, or Microsoft COM

Parallel Crystal Version 2.7.1 is compatible with:·

• Crystal Decisions Crystal Reports v7.0.1.1000
  
• Windows NT v4.0 (Service Pack 4 or greater)
  
• Java 1.3+, or Microsoft COM (Saffron requires Java 1.4)

Parallel Crystal Version 3.7.1 is compatible with:·

• Crystal Decisions Crystal Reports v9.2.0.448
  
• Windows NT v4.0 (Service Pack 4 or greater) or Windows 2000
  
• Java 1.3+, or Microsoft COM (Saffron requires Java 1.4)

Architecture and Design

N-Tier Reporting Solution Integration

Dynalivery's architecture supports location independence of the report server itself and client (middle-tier) libraries, both Java and COM. While the report server is a C++/MFC/CORBA hybrid and must reside on Windows NT (PCRE 2.x and 3.x series) or Windows 2000 (PCRE 3.x series only), the Java client libraries may reside on various UNIX brands, Windows, OS/390, AS/400's, and other platforms where there is a JDK/JRE 1.2 or higher. Of course, the COM library work must reside on Microsoft Windows. Yet both of these tiers can be co-resident, separated over a LAN, separated over a WAN, or even separated by the internet. The only restriction is that there can not be a blocking firewall between them.

Scalable Reporting Server Architecture
(Illustrated for Java, also applies to COM)

Parallel Crystal version 2.6+ Client Architecture