Lennox Computer

Software Design Installation & Support

Unit 8, 121 Newmarket Road WINDSOR, QLD 4030 Phone: 07 3857 5588, Fax: 07 3857 6100 http://www.lennox.com.au eMail: sales@lennox.com.au

Newsletter November 2007

Greetings to all our LILAC users and staff. The end of 2007 is approaching fast - best wishes for the holiday season to all our clients and staff. Our office will be closed from 21st December through to Monday 7th January - emergency consultation by Mobile phone will be available over that period.

LILAC Version V (Futureware).

Lennox Computer have commenced Research & Development activity towards the creation of a new edition of the LILAC software product in the medium term. The new product offering will be code-named "LILAC Verity" and will be available in about 12 to 24 months from now. Even then the new edition will be entry-level in its initial functionality and will probably target fresh LILAC clients rather than existing LILAC users, until such time as the new product expands in functionality to rival the current LILAC. Significant features of the new product will include:

LILAC Large Data-base Support

Until recently there has been an upper limit on the size of the LILAC data-base at 2 Giga-bytes (precisely 2,147,483,648 bytes). This was a result of deficiencies in the Microsoft file structure & virtual memory design effectively limiting database pointers to 31 bit values. Lennox Computer as a consequence recommended that LILAC data-base size be limited to about 1.5 Giga-bytes to allow for upgrading and re-indexing which calls for temporary expansion of the data-base as part of that processing. In recent months Lennox Computer have responded to some improvements in file structure design from Microsoft by implementing and testing full 32-bit data-base pointers for LILAC, allowing the maximum data-base size to be increased to 4 Giga-bytes (or precisely 4,294,967,296 bytes), with a recommended practical maximum around the 3.8 Giga-byte mark. This will allow even the largest of LILAC users (and there are some big ones!) to maintain at least 10 years of full transaction history where desired (and assuming server hardware of appropriate horsepower). These measures will greatly extend the longevity of the 32-bit edition of LILAC and allow the phasing in of 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows, and 64-bit editions of LILAC to be managed in an orderly fashion. Few clients would be happy to scrap all their 32-bit PC's and replace them with 64-bit machines in one fell swoop. (note - all PC's sold by Lennox Computer for the last 12 months or so are 64-bit capable.)

Implemented using Lennox Computer GTL - 6th generation programming language in both 32-bit & 64-bit editions.

Client/Server relational data-base structure with fully symbolic interface permitting the use of 32-bit client computers connecting to 64-bit servers.

64-bit server technology will permit potential data-base sizes up to 18,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes also known as 18 exabytes, and probably in fact, more data than exists on the entire planet at this point in time.

Fully dynamic real-time WYSIWYG interface - documents such as orders, invoices, payments etc will be created and edited via a high performance WYSIWYG user interface in a direct update manner such that the accounting entries in the ledgers and audit trails will be the actual document line entries,with no batching, confirmation or "apply" concepts required.

The original LILAC multi-entity concept expanded to provide a tri-level hierarchy comprising Group, Entity & Branch to allow flexible representation of mixed corporate structures with both corporate & geographical relationships easily encompassed.

Performance The new GTL relational data-base engine is a step froward from the current LILAC approach. It uses Knuth B* Tree technology to provide variable size key fields on any size, as opposed to the fixed width field size in the current LILAC relational data-base. This will provide significant benefits in data-base compactness and speed of access. Given that the current LILAC database is the fastest on the market that will be no mean feat.

Correctness GTL implements a true "full lambda calculus" theory providing a comprehensive self checking object-oriented regimen which surpasses any of the flawed OO implementations based on C and similar out-of-date software technologies.

LILAC eCommerce - Active Server

Lennox Computer have re-vamped our established Electronic Commerce module for a modernised look-and-feel, and to incorporate extensive use of "Cascading Style Sheets", into the HTML generated by the Active Sever module. The use of CSS allows the look-and-feel of the Active Server web-site to be matched to the corporate look-and-fell of your enterprise. It is a source of amazement that some LILAC users insist on trying to implement eCommerce using clumsy, expensive and labour intensive 3rd party hosting services, when LILAC can create an eCommerce site fully dynamically with practically zero effort and nil maintenance overhead. Modern DSL offerings make the hosting of your eCommerce activities on your own LILAC server a breeze, and because your LILAC database is your web-site, when you change any aspect of product, price description, image the eCommerce side just changes automatically with no further effort. Check out these web-sites to see how well LILAC Active Server works: www.wos.com.au www.fmtool.com.au www.lennox.com.au

Lennox Computer's Hardware Products

There is many hours work for Lennox Computer' staff in setting up and configuring a Microsoft Windows PC for optimal operation as a LILAC workstation, and much more in setting up a server - not because LILAC is particularly demanding, but because the complexity and generally flawed nature of the Microsoft product range requires careful management and attention to detail.

Lennox Computer supplied PC hardware generally has an up-market configuration well suited to modern versions of Windows, and supplied with all the appropriate software drivers for the various components, such as video, audio, DVD, modem, Networking, Printers etc, etc. If you source low cost PC hardware from another party, Lennox Computer will undertake the setup and installation work for you, but it will cost you quite a lot more as generally we have to allow for about twice the work, as we will have to quality check and adjust the hardware configuration, find all the right drivers and download them from the internet, and generally diagnose and solve all the inherent problems of such an approach.

So please let us quote to supply and install workstation, and server hardware for your LILAC and Windows networking needs. You will find our base pricing quite competitive for comparable quality, and you will save money on installation and support costs, and you will achieve much higher performance as a consequence.

Note: Lennox Computer workstations are equipped with 2 Giga-bytes of RAM, and our servers have 4 Giga-bytes to ensure no-compromise performance running Windows Vista & Windows Server 2008

ADSL Internet Services

Lennox Computer offer our clients high performance Internet connections via the AAPT PoweTel network which are much more suitable for commercial operations than Telstra or Optus offerings.The Powertel network is relatively smaller in size and passes data through a lot fewer routers thus reducing latency "hops" which are the bane of the large unwieldy Telstra & Optus systems. Pricing is comparable for similar quality services, and Lennox Computer can conveniently provide the technical management for your ADSL services.

Remote File Server Networking

As an adjunct to LILAC Wide Area Networking Lennox Computer offer a WAN based File Server capability for fast and simple access to Word Processing, Graphics & Spreadsheet style documents by remotely located workstations to your LILAC server. Using old-fashioned fast & reliable FTP protocols files can be down-loaded, edited and up-loaded from within Office applications in a style quite similar to local file manipulation. This is a simple, cheap and reliable alternative to complex, expensive and trouble-prone VPN "solutions".

Backup Server Operations

Lennox Computer have developed a dual server concept for especially critical situations where continued system availability is crucially important. A secondary server PC is incorporated into the network and equipped with Lennox Computer software technology to routinely copy the database from the primary server, such that the backup server is ready to take over with a minimum of delay or data-loss.