(Darmstadt, Germany) - The growth of e-business and the World Wide Web is creating a resurgence in the significance of mainframes. But to enjoy their benefits, users and developers need expanded functionality and direct integration with the Web. Software AG meets these requirements with the latest version of its highly successful development environment, Natural. Through HTTP support, Natural Version 5 for Windows enables development of mainframe applications for the Web and processing of XML documents. Development takes place in Windows, and the finished application can then be deployed on various operating systems.

Natural's new XML toolkit allows applications to translate these XML documents to and from Natural source code. This feature gives organizations that already employ Natural a convenient tool with which to process XML data using existing applications and to store information from these applications in XML format. Data from Natural applications can be represented on a Web browser. With Natural's support of HTTP, Natural applications can communicate with the Internet and any business partner that employs this protocol. Natural Version 5 for Windows allows programmers to develop any application in Windows and to deploy it in different operating systems. Software AG describes Natural as the "Single Point of Development" for all applications of an organization. Natural's access to platforms such as the tried-and-tested mainframe is enabled by the Natural Development Server plug-in for OS/390.

The new Natural Version 5 and the Natural Development Server plug-In for OS/390 are now available. Integration functionality for other operating systems will follow soon.