Apatar and StrikeIron to Connect Open Source with Data Quality

Chicopee, MA, November 15, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Apatar, Inc., the leading provider of open source software tools for the data integration market, today officially announced a partnership agreement with StrikeIron® Inc., the worldwide leader of Web services commercialization through the StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace™. The partnership will allow Apatar to add data quality capabilities to its information software application Apatar Open Source, with the access to StrikeIron’s Email and Address Verification Web services piloting this area.

Pioneering open source data quality

Apatar is the first company to provide open source data quality tools leveraging StrikeIron’s verification Web services. This new release of Apatar Open Source, available as a free download beginning October 20, enables its users to extract, verify, and cleanse customer information across databases (such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL, Oracle), files (Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, CSV/TXT files), applications (Salesforce.com, SugarCRM), and the top Web 2.0 destinations (Flickr, Amazon S3, RSS feeds).

“Embedded into the Apatar application, StrikeIron Web services for e-mail and address verification will become an important toolset for businesses migrating or integrating customer data between CRM, ERP applications, and accounting packages,” commented Renat Khasanshyn, CEO and founder of Apatar. “The demand for live and accurate data is one of the key drivers of more effective information management.”

On-demand data verification and data quality

52 percent of organizations consider the “verification of data accuracy or completeness” to be one of the biggest customer data management challenges, according to Aberdeen Group research. StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace supports interactive requests, which will allow Apatar users to instantly validate and update customer data in corporate CRM/ERP applications, websites, databases, or flat files. Apatar connected with StrikeIron US Address Verification, which instantly validates and enhances any US address, and with StrikeIron Email Verification, which verifies the existence of any e-mail address. Both services allow users to increase productivity, improve the sales process, and improve customer service through faster transaction processing and better accuracy.

“Customer data is only useful when it is accurate,” said Bob Brauer, President and CEO of StrikeIron. “Apatar’s data integration software application combined with StrikeIron’s Web services brings a powerful set of capabilities to users wanting to access the highest quality of data in all of their applications.”

Data Quality approach

“Our partnership with StrikeIron is a new step towards enhancing Apatar's functionality,” added Alex Khizhnyak, Apatar Evangelist. “StrikeIron’s Web Services represent a Data Quality approach inside the Apatar application, which offers users more possibilities to improve the quality of the data integrated using Apatar. With the addition of StrikeIron’s e-mail, name, and address verification services propelling Apatar into the uncharted area of open source data cleansing and validation, more data quality capabilities are under way.”

Apatar Open Source Data Integration features and benefits

- Reduce integration and maintenance costs
- Improve data quality
- Shorten implementation time
- Extract, load, verify, and cleanse e-mail addresses and US mailing addresses
- Synchronization across multiple interfaces (on-premises, on-demand, mobile)
- No coding. Visual job designer and mapping enable non-developers to design and perform transformations
- Connectivity to Oracle, MS SQL, MySQL, Sybase, Microsoft Access, PostgreSQL, InstantDB, BorlandJDataStore, Csv, Qed, HSQL, Compiere ERP, SalesForce.Com, SugarCRM, GoldMine, Microsoft Excel, XML, RSS, ATOM, FTP, POP3, LDAP, WebDav, Autodesk Buzzsaw, any JDBC data sources, Amazon S3, and Flickr
- Job scheduler
- Platform-independent, runs from Windows, Linux; 100% Java- based
- Easy customization, source code included

Pricing

Apatar Open Source is available for free download. Commercial support and maintenance subscription packages start at $1,900 per year.

StrikeIron Email Verification and Address Verification Web services are available for subscription from StrikeIron.

About Apatar

Apatar is the leading provider of open source software tools for the data integration market. With powerful Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) capabilities, Apatar enables its users to easily link information between databases (such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL, Oracle), applications (Salesforce.com, SugarCRM), and the top Web 2.0 destinations (Flickr, Amazon S3). Apatar provides support, training, and consulting services for its integration solutions. Headquartered in Western Massachusetts, Apatar operates a development center in Minsk, Belarus. Apatar is currently used by 250 organizations and individuals worldwide.

More information is available at Apatar’s Online Press Room.

About StrikeIron

StrikeIron is the leader in Data as a Service (DaaS), facilitating the consumption and distribution of live data and business functionality over the Web. The company’s innovative Web Services Marketplace provides a technology platform, micro-transaction management, and a consistent interface across many XML-based Web services from multiple, diverse sources. This allows business users, application developers, and enterprise IT professionals to customize and integrate external data sources and additional external functionality into enterprise, Web, and composite applications. Currently, StrikeIron provides over 100 live data sources and business functions from organizations such as D&B, Zacks, MapQuest, Cdyne, Xignite, YP.com, and IDExec.

StrikeIron also offers a set of products and tools to simplify and accelerate the consumption of data, such as its SOA Express for Excel, enabling business users to access live data via front office applications. StrikeIron delivers value to over 1,000 customers and partners such as BEA, Delivery.com, IBM, Honda Europe, D&B, Time Warner, Siemens, Nike, Kenwood, and Exclusive Resorts.

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