[news.eclipse.commercial] [ANN] Spectrum Announces SpectrumSCM 2.5 Relea

["SpectrumSCM Release Annoucement" <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Spectrum Announces Latest SpectrumSCM 2.5 Release - Valuable New Features 
and Enhancements

Extensions to support Unicode/Multi character set source files,

Microsoft Office plugin for Office 2007 and Office 2003,

Directory Rename with history preservation and more

Atlanta - August 7th, 2007: Atlanta based Spectrum Software, Inc., a systems 
designer and developer of software

productivity tools, announces today the availability of the latest 
SpectrumSCM 2.5 release of its flagship enterprise

Source Configuration Management product. This new release contains several 
enhancements in terms of

internationalization, and support for varied character-sets, extends change 
request descriptions to include HTML editing

capability, an extension to our Microsoft Office plugin to support Office 
2003, and Office 2007, plus many useful

enhancements to user management, work space synchronization, and release 
management features.

SpectrumSCM? is the first truly integrated, platform independent, 
full-featured (Version Control, Issue/Defect Tracking,

Change Management, Process Management/Control, Workflow, Release Management, 
Parallel Development) source

configuration management system in the market place. SpectrumSCM brings in 
the best practices for automation of

Project lifecycle processes through unified configuration management and 
change management by providing full CM

functionality with one truly integrated SCM system and not as a suite of 
bundled applications to provide provides

comprehensive source configuration and management for any 'e-Asset' from 
origination through delivery, maintenance,

and support..

The new product version includes a number of enhancements requested by our 
current customers as part of our wishlist

initiative. This initiative, which has been popular, enables our existing 
customers to send in requests for new features

they would like to have in SpectrumSCM. This is also a solid reflection of 
the ownership we have created amongst our

users with their investment in SpectrumSCM as their chosen CM tool.

SpectrumSCM Version 2.5 feature list.

+ Extensions to the current Unicode Support, Internationalization and 
handling of Multi-lingual character

sets within source files.

This feature extends the capabilities of SpectrumSCM in terms of 
internationalization, and support for varied charactersets,

which will allow and manage multiple character sets across the SpectrumSCM 
system. Prior to release 2.5

SpectrumSCM followed the Java character set model as provided by Sun 
Microsystems Inc in terms of the Java

parameter "file.encoding". In SpectrumSCM release 2.5 a new parameter has 
been introduced into the server

configuration options to set the default system wide character-set. 
Additionally, 2 new configuration parameters have

been introduced to allow file specific character settings, and to disable 
the automatic end-of-line re-writing.

For example the encoding formats such as UTF8, UTF16, Cp1252, ISO8859_1, 
Cp273 (German), Cp297 (French), Cp

930 (Japanese), Cp935 (Chinese) to name a few, can be specified (as 
appropriate) for each file. Additionally you can

continue to use SpectrumSCM's diff/merge and edit source files with text 
from all over the world, but now with the

appropriate character-set for the particular file. SpectrumSCM can thus 
support multibyte/Unicode characters within file

content and allow users to load, display, edit, and otherwise change manage 
and manipulate files and data in non-ASCII

formats.

+ Extend CR descriptions to allow and support bold, underline, colors and 
lists

Add HTML editor capability to both the CR creation screen and the "Modify CR 
description" screen. This allows

significantly enhanced formatting options over the previous text-only 
format.

+ Added "Directory Rename" capability

SpectrumSCM already supports file re-name and move capabilities that makes 
Agile methodology practitioners very

happy. Users can quickly and easily re-name files in place or move files 
around the directory structure, using simple

drag-n-drop techniques, without losing any file history or upsetting 
previous releases.

With this new version, directories can now be renamed. Full file history and 
previous locations are maintained so that

previous releases are faithfully reproduced.

+ Update SpectrumSCM-Microsoft Office plugin to support Office 2003 and 
Office 2007

Microsoft's adoption of the .Net platform enabled a significant update to 
the SpectrumSCM-Office plugin. The Office

plugin enables documentation workers to directly access the SpectrumSCM 
system from a Word, Excel or Powerpoint

menu.

Users of the SpectrumSCM-Office plugin can check files in and out of a 
SpectrumSCM repository without having to

leave the native environment of these tools. Using the plugin, end user 
organizations can easily share Word, Excel and

Powerpoint documents over LAN and WAN facilities in a controlled fashion. 
Since SpectrumSCM manages all kinds of

sources or 'e-Assets' (source code, text, documents, images, drawings, 
proposals, contracts, web pages etc) through its

life-cycle activities, this feature will now enable organizations to provide 
process and structure to every desktop. All

corporate users can now benefit from the many sound disciplines of CM 
practices in a seamless way without having to

leave their familiar work environments.

+ Extensions to the User Management functionality

Improvements were added to the SpectrumSCM User Management screen to aid 
usability. Specifically, the ability to

clone user settings from an existing project to a new one and the ability to 
add a set of users into a new project. This

becomes very useful when a new project wants to inherit the users, their 
roles and permissions setting from an existing

project and particularly when the team sizes are large.

+ Added CR creation assignment into the full workflow functionality

CR create tasks can now take full advantage of the workflow features such as 
automatic assignments, conditional paths

and callouts/triggers.

+ Workflow Color Change

In the workflow management screen the green and blue colors have been 
swapped to be consistent with the Change

Request colorizations on the main screen. See the screen help for more 
information.

+ Enhancements to the workspace synchronizer

The Workspace Synchronizer allows a user to quickly and easily identify the 
files in his/her local workspace that are not

currently synchronized with the SpectrumSCM repository. The feature makes it 
very easy for a user to work while

disconnected from the SpectrumSCM repository. This is perfect for commuters 
or others that need to be productive

while away from the office. The Workspace Synchronizer also allows the user 
to quickly and easily identify work that

needs to be downloaded into their own workspaces. This will also enable 
enterprises to provide effective life-cycle

management for any work undertaken by external resources like contractors, 
outside vendors, and any other third-party

providers in any given project.

This version added "Ignore" filters so that specific files or 
patterns/groups of files can be ignored. Also added persistent

counts so that the user is informed as to the number of discrepancies the 
scan has determined.

+ Improvements to the "Delete" capabilities and permissions enhancements

Currently, deletion permissions are bundled up under one permissions toggle. 
This version splits file deletion from CR

deletion, into 2 separate conditions by introducing the new, specific, 
"Delete CR's" permissions level . This will provide

control and restrictions on who can be authorized to delete CRs in any 
project, thus preserving the integrity of source

changes from a trackability and auditors perspective.

Currently a clean server shutdown is associated with the "Administrator" 
permissions level. SpectrumSCM version 2.5

adds a new permissions level for "Server Shutdown". By introducing a new 
specific level this can be granted to

someone without giving them the full administrator access to the system.

+ Improvements to Release Management Dependency highlighting

Currently to investigate a release management dependency issue, the user 
runs the appropriate report highlighted by the

yellow dependency flag. Under this enhancement, if the user double-clicks 
the yellow flag, a dialog will present the

specific dependency condition immediately, while still allowing the user to 
view the full reports if desired.

+ Improved performance and scalability

Optimization has been performed on numerous screen to reduce database lock 
contention, optimize data transfers and

handle laptop hibernations better.

+ Extend "delete" functionality to be able to cross multiple 
generics/branches

When a delete operation is performed today, it is specialized into the 
current branch/generic. The new functionality gives

the option to specialize the delete or to keep it common across 
branches/generics.

Availability

SpectrumSCM, is available directly from Spectrum Software, Inc. For pricing, 
demos and sales information, please

contact Spectrum sales representative (email: sales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) at 
770-448-8662 (North America).

About Spectrum

Spectrum Software, Inc. is a 15 year old, proven software systems design and 
services firm providing cost-effective,

efficient and quality software products and services to large, medium and 
small businesses. Spectrum Software has three

divisions: Software Services, which focuses on outsourcing and leading 
software development projects for clients;

Software Products division, which engineers software tools and products and 
Spectrum Multimedia, which creates

multimedia-based software products for children. The SpectrumSCM? product is 
seen as a very attractive alternative to

many of the existing market leading competitors. Because of its tightly 
integrated Process management and change

management architecture, SpectrumSCM has been repeatedly acknowledged to be 
one of the most economical, fullfeatured

enterprise SCM tool that offers the best combination of value and 
functionality by its customers.

SpectrumSCM provides High-end CM capability at the price of a competitor's 
single function tool. In May 2006

SpectrumSCM was Voted Top Java Product - 2006 JavaPro Reader's Choice Award, 
as the Best Pure Java Packaged

Client/Server or Distributed Application. For more information on Spectrum 
Software and SpectrumSCM?, check out

the company's Web site at www.spectrumscm.com or email info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
or call 770.448.8662.