This new release of ColdFusion server will bring many new features and improved performance to our applications, such as our Team-Logic CRM application and our Store-Logic eCommerce application. Team-Logic is now being moved to these new servers, which use a fiber channel connection to a large storage array network (SAN) for storage. These hardware upgrades, combined with a new security framework, will make Team-Logic faster and more robust with features, such as integration with mobile devices and Microsoft Exchange.

.Net Integration
ColdFusion 8 server also has native support for .Net objects, so we will be able to use .Net with our applications as well.

PDF support is improved
This is great news for us because we are dynamically generating PDFs in several of our applications now. We are winning a lot of government and municipal projects now, and we are seeing more PDF workflows in those environments, so this will help take our municipal web application further.
AJAX
We are upgrading all of our applications with AJAX, and they all have AJAX technology in them now in one fashion or another. With server-based AJAX integration, this will simplify how we use the AJAX libraries in our ColdFusion applications.
Improved Uptime
There are additional features to the new server platform’s administration and debugging that will give us more information on any problems that may arise in hosted applications, making them easier to debug. This will help with response times.

I’ll give a full report plus some sample uses of the new features in ColdFusion 8 as we launch them.

Our guys just coded some stuff for the local real estate MLS system that allows us to bring in 60,000 real estate listings PER DAY into our system, then process them with much less code than we had before. Our new guys were able to build the system in ONE WEEK. This open up a lot of opportunity to service real estate customers that utilize TrendMLS and/or Offutt listings in their web site. Awesome. Exciting.

Same is true with our UPS Ecommerce integration. Oh man, this one gave me heartburn. This is something we should have had a year ago, and now it looks like it will be complete this week or next. UPS, USPS, FedEx, and DHL APIs are just some of the APIs that I want to see in our new Ecommerce platform that we are calling “Commerce Engine“. The guys are putting it together now, and it will include some new ideas that no one else is doing.

We are also going to start the move to .Net in 2007. This will take us a little bit of time, but there is no denying any longer that .Net defeated Java for OO application development. We will always provide expert ColdFusion (and Flex) development, and we are using the latest frameworks today.

We are always looking for new talent, and I am looking for a couple of folks right now. Watch the Delaware.net jobs section for more information on positions in our company.