Progress has reached the mid-way point in the development of IBS 10.0i, the web browser-enabled version of the Integrated Business Systems (IBS) property management and accounting system, announced Robert Entin, president. Based in Fairfield, New Jersey, IBS is recognized in the New York metropolitan area as a premier provider of real estate business solutions. A consortium of major real estate players funded the multi-million dollar IBS 10.0i project - including Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, Vornado Realty Trust, Reckson Associates Realty Corp., Jack Resnick & Sons Inc. and The Feil Organization - all of which are IBS users.

IBS's software, currently a network-based system, contains more than 1,700 programs that address virtually all property management, accounting and construction management tasks. With a 22-year development history, the IBS package includes more than 5 million lines of source code and is used by the more than 100 of the region's most prominent real estate companies. "By web browser-enabling the IBS software, we will be positioned to lead in the new generation of Internet-based property management systems," Entin said.

IBS 10.0i is a J2EE-compliant model that adheres to all industry standards. The browser-enabled product can be run as an Intranet within a firewall and corporate network, or over the Internet via an Application Service Provider (ASP) model. It has been designed so that it can be configured in a variety of ways, with as many systems and web servers as needed for the individual user.

"Its scalability can accommodate a relatively small client with one web server and one application server as well as large entities with clusters of servers," Entin explained. "At the same time, because it can be deployed via an ASP, IBS 10.0i can also be run with no internal hardware by enterprises of all sizes."

To date, the entire IBS commercial and residential subsystems have been converted to the browser-enabled front end, featuring complete pull-down menus. Users have the ability to query and search across portfolios, and drill into a tree structure on any Super Entity, Entity, Property or Tenant. All IBS reports generated from IBS data can be downloaded for review in Excel, HTML or Adobe Acrobat (PDF files) - suitable for emailing.

AHEAD OF THE GAME

According to Entin, the project's rapid progress - which is months ahead of schedule - is a credit to the quality team the firm assembled in advance of the launch. "We spent a great deal of time creating our internal architecture for the project," Entin noted. "We had everything and everyone in place before activity commenced in mid-January."

IBS hired Erik Froelich, chief operating officer, at mid-year 2001, in order to allow Entin to increase his focus on the web project. By year-end, IBS had also added several programmers dedicated to the IBS 10.0i project to its in-house staff and retained a consulting firm to handle additional programming requirements on a third-party basis.

"Due to the current business climate, we were able to find and retain high-quality programmers and an excellent outsourced programming resource relatively quickly," Entin said. "This team has been instrumental in the overall strategy of the project, allowing us to hit the ground running. The different groups complement each other and have worked effectively and efficiently toward the end goal."

IBS anticipates that the web project will be completed by mid 2003. The first beta site will begin to run IBS 10.0i, along with the current version, in late fall 2002. Several additional users will convert during the first six months of next year.

"One of the benefits of being an established operation, rather than a start-up, is the opportunity to begin field testing the product mid-stream," Entin said. "The early interactive use will enable us to enhance and rework features. By the time the overall programming is finished, we will have already polished design issues that our beta uses uncover."

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