Emerging Technology Promises to Bridge Web, Desktop

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. and the American Cancer Society Inc. are looking to Adobe Integrated Runtime technology to take some of their rich Internet applications to the desktop.

The new AIR technology from San Jose-based Adobe Systems Inc. is among several emerging products that promise to let companies run Web applications built using various AJAX tools on desktop systems. AIR is slated to ship next month, according to Adobe.

Nasdaq and the American Cancer Society are among several large organizations eyeing the Adobe runtime technology as a way to bridge the traditional gap between Web and desktop applications.  Claude Courbois, associate vice president of data product development at Nasdaq, said that he has long been searching for tools to help the stock market’s analysts and brokerage customers comply with stringent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules much faster.

For example, one of the SEC rules requires that brokerages provide a tool that can quickly re-create market conditions to prove to customers that they received the best price available for a stock. But traditional development technology isn’t capable of building such a tool, Courbois noted.

Today, Nasdaq analysts spend hours using statistical software from SAS Institute Inc. on the desktop to re-create market conditions when necessary.

Source: Computerworld.com