2005 will be another year of strenuous activity and rapid growth!

The second quarter of 2005 will see the biggest change in TurnKey since its inception but it is highly likely most users will notice very little. They will notice its blinding speed and even higher search engine rankings. They may notice the improved documentation and in-context help system and the subtle changes that will make TurnKey even more intuitive. They will notice the Support Centre with its FAQ Knowledge Bank and discussion forum but ... that is about it. And that is the way it should be. TurnKey works well and it will continue to do so.

So what are the changes? The answer is Architecture and LaunchPad.

TurnKey has a development API, called LaunchPad, which provides an object orientated abstraction over the database to facilitate rapid development of applications and to allow those applications to seamlessly plug in to TurnKey. Because TurnKey itself is built with LaunchPad, applications built with it can be integrated into TurnKey as modules, allowing them to utilise all the CMS features, including User Management and a host of other pre-built functionality, all bundled together into a user friendly administration console.

As wonderful as LaunchPad is right now it is about to be rewritten from the inside out.

LaunchPad V7.0 utilises the functionality and constructs available in CFMX to extend interoperability and improve performance. This upgrade will yield significant improvements in database support, reduce development time through a faster and more flexible API, provide better system management tools and improve general application performance in both front and back end applications. An integration framework has been developed that will provide an API for third party developers to write 'connectors' to external systems for both sending and receiving (synchronising) data.

Put simply LaunchPad V7.0 will reinvigorate TurnKey from the inside out providing developers with a faster more intuitive development interface. Having re-forged LaunchPad with V7.0 new support and training documents and courses will be released early in quarter 2 2005.

 * Overall these changes will dramatically reduce application development and integration times by an estimated 50% while speeding up page rendering times by in some cases up to 300%. These changes will also improve clustering capabilities significantly.

The changes don't stop there, TurnKey V7.0 has a few tricks of its own;

Database Independence - Support will initially be added for MySQL and Postgres databases with others to follow, based on customers requirements. This will provide the flexibility of database hosting on Linux, or at least with an open source alternative to Windows.

 * These changes will reduce implementation costs of a TurnKey hub by $9,000 in Microsoft license fees alone.

System Tools - The present tools will be enhanced to provide full management of systems and hubs via a web interface with deployment and configuration down to individual sites.

Designers will be able to develop and test designs within the Design Management Area of the administration console while choosing from a variety of pre-built templates in our design library.
 
 * Our aim is to improve our initial site design and maintenance time by 50%.
 
Hub administrators will be able to create and delegate user management and functionality to secure discrete communities within the one server. This will be of specific interest to Corporates who wish to utilise their TurnKey Hub for several subsidiaries at the one time, for Advertising agencies with a variety of client sites as well as hosting companies and ISP who serve a range of different clients on the one server or cluster.

Overall I hope you will understand our excitement and enthusiasm about the balance of this year and 2005. We are in for an exciting year. We have a detailed plan and milestones in place and a well developed testing and documentation process. We are also adding significantly to our marketing area early in the new year, so expect to hear a lot more about your favourite CMS next year as well.

Many thanks for your support in 2004. We look forward to working through your own development agenda for 2005 in the coming months. After all what we do is only important if it assists in improving your company's market position. As we say at N4B, "It's all about ROIDO". This is our own word coined to describe the ever changing path to return on investment and maximising shareholder benefit - yours and ours!

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