PARIS and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ILOG(R) (Nasdaq: ILOG; Euronext: ILO, ISIN: FR0004042364), today announced JRules(TM)6.5, a key offering in ILOG's business rule management system (BRMS) product line, featuring "push-button" creation and deployment of Transparent Decision Services (rule-based Web services) in service-oriented architecture (SOA) applications without additional programming. Another significant JRules 6.5 advance is an industry-first Semantic Query feature that extends business user empowerment and productivity by allowing business users to query the rule repository to determine the impact of a policy change without worrying how the rule might have been written. Previously, business users needed to know exactly what rules they were looking for to search the repository, meaning searches could take much longer or require an expert.

A BRMS can be a significant part of an SOA strategy because it can facilitate software code reusability, consistency and data quality. However, to date, businesses have been unable to easily deploy rule-based Web services without a lot of additional programming. ILOG JRules 6.5 takes the toil out of developing and deploying decision services. For example, with JRules 6.5 a bank's project team can develop and deploy a credit risk assessment service by modeling the policies as business rules and then applying "wizards" included in the new ILOG JRules release to automatically generate all the necessary code and configuration files.

Transparent Decision Services Facilitate SOA Reuse

According to IT research firm, Gartner, SOA is an architectural style for business applications that has become one of the most important concepts in modern software application design. Along with process consistency and agility, reuse is a key element of the service-oriented architecture (SOA) value proposition. However, as Gartner reported, "[SOA] early adopters have generally been disappointed at the level of sharing (sometimes called "reuse") they have been able to achieve -- only 10% to 40%."

Based on the premise that better transparency enables greater reuse, ILOG JRules 6.5 provides access to the rules in the decision service to all the participants of its lifecycle: developers, integration developers, service owners and policy owners, allowing them to collaborate to create, deploy, monitor and maintain the application. Decision services created using JRules 6.5 are also transparent because the BRMS helps eliminate the "black box" created by standard programming practices, so users can interact with the rules.

Industry-first Semantic Query Empowers Business Users

In addition to automatic Web services deployment, another significant new feature in ILOG JRules 6.5 is the Semantic Query feature in Rule Team Server. Users can easily locate the policies they need to do their work without thinking about how the rule repository is organized, allowing them to analyze the impact of policy changes before they are made. This feature not only increases productivity and simplifies maintenance, since rules that need attention are easier to find, it also means less training and support for business users who do not have to remember the right terminology to use to conduct queries. Policy managers will also benefit from changes to the JRules Rule Team Server (RTS) for authoring and managing rules throughout the business rule life cycle. In addition to Semantic Query, customization features let users adapt the RTS look and feel to their own standards.

In addition to new productivity features for business users, developers will benefit from support for Eclipse 3.2 in the ILOG JRules 6.5 Rule Studio module. ILOG JRules was the first, and continues to be the only, BRMS to be fully integrated with the widely-used open-source Eclipse integrated development environment.

ILOG JRules 6.5 is available immediately. For more information, please visit http://www.ilog.com/products/jrules.

About ILOG

ILOG delivers software and services that empower customers to make better decisions faster and manage change and complexity. Over 2,500 global corporations and more than 465 leading software vendors rely on ILOG's market-leading business rule management system (BRMS), optimization and visualization software components, to achieve dramatic returns on investment, create market-defining products and services, and sharpen their competitive edge. ILOG was founded in 1987 and employs more than 775 people worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.ilog.com/.

NOTE: ILOG is a registered trademark, and ILOG JRules is a trademark, of ILOG, Inc. and ILOG S.A. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Monika Raj of PR Manager-US of ILOG, +1-650-714-4252

Web site: http://www.ilog.com/