db4o Streamlines Distribution for Macrix’s New Financial Planning App

Macrix Software GmbH has focused its attention squarely on developing enterprise software to meet the needs of its customers around the world. As the company started creating applications that required an integrated database, though, they soon realized that they needed to replace the database they were using with a solution that took the complexity out of the development process and was simple to distribute.

Recently, the European Academy of Financial Research asked Macrix to collaborate on the development of a simple and sophisticated program that would help individuals with their private financial planning tasks. "We have been developing this little program called Finance Planner for more than a year, and we intend to sell it to the many people who want an inexpensive way to plan investments, check into potential problems, plan future financial liquidity and activities of that sort," said Marek Zuchowski, founder of Macrix.

In the past, the software developer had used Microsoft SQL and other databases, but realized that it needed to find one that could be readily and affordably distributed to a large number of customers. "Although we had already developed other desktop applications in the past, we hadn't done anything that would sell so many copies," said Zuchowski, adding that they expect the initial release to sell 30,000 copies or more of the program. "We found that many databases have costly licenses and are difficult to integrate into our products. We also had many problems as we tried to support the many different Windows platforms."

After doing some research, the company discovered db4o and found that it was sophisticated, simple and affordable. Incorporating db4o into the development project was a one-step process. More importantly, the distribution was simplified dramatically as the db4o library is only a single file. Also, as db4o is native to Java and .NET it is highly portable across all leading operating systems.

"We tried it out and we saw that it was very easy to use and that it was fast, lightweight and reliable," said Zuchowski. "We started to try it out in some of the programs that we were developing."

As the company integrated db4o into Finance Planner, the results were excellent. The developer found that db4o allowed the program to function faster than with other databases, and appreciated the lightweight footprint of the program (which is currently less than 700kb). "We've tested the program thoroughly with 200 beta users and we’ve had no problems with db4o," said Zuchowski. "It is a very stable and reliable part of the software."

Since the application housed financial data, security was another huge concern for Macrix. "The ability to encrypt data was very important to our decision," said Zuchowski. "With db4o, we can encrypt the data so that users know that no one from the outside will see what’s stored in the program."

The development of Finance Planner promises to be the first of many projects that will incorporate db4o. "We will absolutely use this solution going forward, and are already using it in some prototype products," said Zuchowski, pointing to an in-development product called Yukon Pro, a product configuration application. "Behind any site that offers a configured product, there is rules-based knowledge that does the work in the background. We have big plans for this product and the current version is based on db4o because it is so fast."

With the help of db4o, Macrix intends to continue its tradition of serving its customers with customized applications that address their demands for speed, reliability, and affordability.

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