Patent Cites Ivory’s Unique Approach to Defining, Implementing, Deploying, and Executing Web Services
ATLANTA, April 13, 2010 – GT Software (www.gtsoftware.com), a provider of integration solutions that leverage mainframe resources, today announced that the technology behind the company’s flagship product, Ivory Service Architect, has been awarded a U.S. Patent. Granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, only to inventions that have passed rigid tests for uniqueness and usefulness, the patent covers GT Software’s “Systems and Methods for Web Service Function, Definition, Implementation, and/or Execution.”
This patented technology forms the engine of Ivory Service Architect, an integrated toolset that enables rapid integration of mainframe assets leveraging companies’ investments in mainframe applications and data. A proven solution in the most demanding of applications infrastructures, Ivory enables developers to quickly and easily create and publish Web services, developing right-sized composite business services with little or no training.
“Software patents face heavy odds against success, and GT Software filed its first patent application because of the unique nature of the Ivory process for creating Web services,” according to GT Software chief technology officer Steven Able. “GT Software has created numerous products in the past 20 years. The company felt that Ivory warranted additional protection and recognition for the research and development efforts put forth to create the Ivory Process for Web Services,” Able said.
“The patent acknowledges the investment by GT Software in people and resources to commit to and deliver technology that is proven in the market. And now, it is recognized by Patent,” said Able. The patent covers “the whole process, from developing a user friendly graphical interface, enabling multi-step services so users can get the right service at the right time, enabling instant deployment and cross-platform deployment.”
GT Software has another patent pending related to the process Ivory uses to allow batch applications to interact with Web services using an API paradigm that COBOL, PL/I and Assembler programmers can easily understand.
“The Ivory Service Architect technology that has already been patented is now included in two other software products on the market, so the value of the patent process has already started to pay off for the company,” said chief strategy officer Rob Morris, who is co-author of the now-pending software patent.
“The Ivory Service Architect patent recognizes the product’s power to extend clients’ applications to the 21st century Web services world. Its process to allow rapid implementation provides clients with a very flexible method for extending and interfacing applications that may have been conceptualized outside the context of the Web,” said Steve Craggs, analyst for Lustratus Research. “This patent brings appropriate recognition to GT Software’s foresight in establishing the research and design project that resulted in its first patent.”
In line with its successful patent application, the company has established a new bonus program that will encourage employees to review their work for patentable paradigms, which is expected to result in additional patent applications.
The application was approved earlier this year, and GT Software was notified that the patent, #7,665,064, was issued on Feb. 16.
Marking a long struggle to achieve proper legal protection for inventions in the information technology age, the first U.S. patent for software was not issued until 1968, covering a system for sorting mainframe data. According to Marty Goetz, who as a young developer at Applied Data Research received that first software patent, “Innovative software technology has been the driving force of the Internet and of the U.S. economy. GT Software is to be congratulated for their development of this important web technology.”
Since Goetz’ patent was issued, Microsoft alone has achieved 5,000 patents, most of them for software. “Now, GT Software is walking with a notable industry cohort,” Goetz added.
About GT Software
GT Software is a leading global provider of proven, cost-effective mainframe integration and data access solutions that enable companies to maximize the value of their technology investments without significantly increasing costs. With GT Software’s products, mainframe developers can quickly and easily model, automate, and extend mainframe processes for deployment as key components of an enterprise SOA solution. With more than 2,000 installations worldwide, GT Software provides high-quality, innovative and cost-effective solutions for many FORTUNE 1000 companies.
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