Mentis Group: Mentis Solutions

Mentis OpenNet is a pre-built framework containing integrated components used to build dynamic web-based business solutions. The base components are interchangable, allowing the client's business requirements to drive the composition of their solution, not the vendor.

From applications servers to databases to operating systems, Mentis OpenNet has a flexible, open architecture that provides clean interfaces to all of these components, giving our clients the flexibility to choose a solution that best fits their objectives.

OpenNet frees up valuable and expensive resources to focus on the business and presentation layers of the solution and not the nuts and bolts.

Pre-built security and access control modules allow for applications to be built and deployed quickly and at a reduced cost.

Abstraction of business and presentation layers promote a scalable, easy to maintain solution that can grow as the business requirements grow and change.

Strict adherence to open standards and reduced dependency on specific vendors also insure the future viability and reduced cost/upgrade risk inherent is most business solutions.

In addition, Mentis Consulting Services provides knowledgable consultants who work with the client to understand their business objectives, assit in design and implementation, and aggresively push into a transition phase to reduce client dependency on our consulitng services. Our goal is to build solutions which allow our clients to be self-sufficient, eliminating proprietary knowledge lock-in and promoting open knowledge sharing.

Open Source Reference

Linux ( http://www.linux.org/)

Linux is an operating system that was initially created as a hobby by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland. The current full-featured version is 2.4 (released January 2001) and development continues.

Linux is developed under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to everyone. Linux may be used for a wide variety of purposes including networking, software development, and as an end-user platform. Linux is often considered an excellent, low-cost alternative to other more expensive operating systems.

Due to the very nature of Linux's functionality and availability, it has become quite popular worldwide and a vast number of software programmers have taken Linux's source code and adapted it to meet their needs. At this time, there are dozens of ongoing projects for porting Linux to various hardware configurations and purposes.

MySQL ( http://www.mysql.org)

The MySQL database server is the world's most popular open source database. Its architecture makes it extremely fast and easy to customize. Extensive reuse of code within the software and a minimalistic approach to producing functionally-rich features has resulted in a database management system unmatched in speed, compactness, stability and ease of deployment. The unique separation of the core server from the table handler makes it possible to run with strict transaction control or with ultra-fast transactionless disk access, whichever is most appropriate for the situation.

The MySQL database server is available for free under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Major corporations such as Yahoo!, Cisco, NASA, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Google, Hyperion, and Sony Pictures rely on MySQL.

PostgreSQL (http://advocacy.postgresql.org)

Many organizations from large corporations, to government institutions, to small online businesses have implemented PostgreSQL to handle their most valuable data and mission critical applications. PostgreSQL advantages include:

Immunity to over-deployment, a problem many proprietary database vendors regard as their #1 licence compliance issue
Exceptional performance and speed
Uncompromising reliability
World-class security
Flexibility to be extended as required
Highly scalable design
Extensive support options
Minimal administration requirements
Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
ANSI Standards Compliance

Apache Webserver (httpd.apache.org/)

The Apache HTTP Server Project is an effort to develop and maintain an open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems including UNIX and Windows NT. The goal of this project is to provide a secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services in sync with the current HTTP standards.

Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April of 1996. The July 2003 Netcraft Web Server Survey found that 63% of the web sites on the Internet are using Apache, thus making it more widely used than all other web servers combined.

ApacheTomcat (http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/index.html)

Tomcat is the servlet container that is used in the official Reference Implementation for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies. Java Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSPs) provide a component-based, platform-independent method for building web applications.
Tomcat is developed in an open and participatory environment and released under the Apache Software License. Tomcat is intended to be a collaboration of the best-of-breed developers from around the world

JBoss Application Server (http://www.jboss.org/index)

JBoss is a fully-featured, highly scalable Open Source java application server. It includes full support for J2EE-based APIs. JBoss competes head on with proprieary offerings such as BEA Weblogic and IBM Websphere with over 2 million downloads in 2002.

JBoss is used in everything from single CPU Linux/Window deployments to very high-end E 15K, hundred CPU, Solaris cluster boxes.

Velocity Toolkit (http://jakarta.apache.org/velocity/index.html)

Velocity is a Java-based template engine. When Velocity is used for web development, Web designers can work in parallel with Java programmers to develop web sites according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) model, meaning that web page designers can focus solely on creating a site that looks good, and programmers can focus solely on writing top-notch code. Velocity separates Java code from the web pages, making the web site more maintainable over the long run and providing a viable alternative to Java Server Pages (JSPs) or PHP.

Turbine Toolkit (http://jakarta.apache.org/turbine/index.html)

Turbine is a servlet based framework that allows developers to quickly build secure web applications. Turbine is an excellent choice for developing applications that make use of a services-oriented architecture. Some of the functionality provided with Turbine includes a security management system, a scheduling service, XML-defined form validation server, and an XML-RPC service for web services. It is a simple task to create new services particular to your application.

The Turbine core is free of any dependency on a presentation layer technology. Both JavaServer Pages (JSP) and Velocity are supported inside Turbine. Turbine is developed in an open, participatory environment and released under the Apache Software License. Turbine is intended to be a collaboration of the best-of-breed developers from around the world.

Struts Toolkit (http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/index.html)

Struts provides the invisible underpinnings every professional web application needs to survive. Struts helps you create an extensible development environment for your application, based on published standards and proven design patterns.

Struts encourages application architectures based on the Model 2 approach, a variation of the classic Model-View-Controller (MVC) design paradigm. Struts provides its own Controller component and integrates with other technologies to provide the Model and the View. For the Model, Struts can interact with any standard data access technology, including Enterprise Java Beans, JDBC, and Object Relational Bridge. For the View, Struts works well with JavaServer Pages, including JSTL and JSF, as well as Velocity Templates, XSLT, and other presentation systems.

Apache ANT (http://ant.apache.org)

ANT is a free Java based build tool used in the software development process to help the project team build, deploy and maintain web-applications in an efficient and oderly manner. ANT is easily extended through its use of an XML based configuration file, works across multiple platforms and intergrates seamlessly with source control applications like CVS.

CVS (http://cvshome.org)

CVS is the “Concurrent Versions System”, the dominant open-source network-transparent version control system. CVS is useful for everyone from individual developers to large, distributed teams:

Its client-server access method lets developers access the latest code from anywhere there's an Internet connection
Its unreserved check-out model to version control avoids artificial conflicts common with the exclusive check-out model
Its client tools are available on most platforms

Scarib (http://scarab.tigris.org/)

Scarab is an Issue/Artifact tracking system that has the following features:

A full feature set similar to those found in other Issue/Artifact tracking systems: data entry, queries, reports, notifications to interested parties, collaborative accumulation of comments, dependency tracking
In addition to the standard features, Scarab has fully customizable and unlimited numbers of Modules (your various projects), Issue/Artifact types (Defect, Enhancement, Requirement, etc), Attributes (Operating System, Status, Priority, etc), Attribute options (P1, P2, P3) which can all be defined on a per Module basis so that each of your modules is configured for your specific tracking requirements.
Built using Java Servlet technology for speed, scalability, maintainability, and ease of installation.
Import/Export ability via XML allowing for easy migration from other systems
Fully customizable through a set of administrative pages.
Easily modified UI look and feel.
Can be integrated into larger systems

Bugzilla (http://www.bugzilla.org/about.html)

Bugzilla is a "Defect Tracking Systems", or, more commonly, "Bug-Tracking Systems" software tool. It allows an individual or groups of developers to keep track of outstanding bugs in their product effectively. Most commercial defect-tracking software vendors charged enormous licensing fees. Bugzilla is free and is now the de-facto standard defect-tracking system against which all others are measured.

Bugzilla includes the following features:

Integrated, product-based granular security schema
Inter-bug dependencies and dependency graphing
Advanced reporting capabilities
Robust, stable RDBMS back-end
Extensive configurability
Well-understood and well-thought-out natural bug resolution protocol
Email, XML, console, and HTTP APIs
Integration with automated software configuration management systems, including CVS