Why we’re different

Considering we offer a rather extensive and 100% integrated platform with functionality that is usually associated with a variety of diverse technology areas (e.g. development tools, portals, BPM, SOA and reporting), we strive to provide a superior solution for companies seeking to lower the risk of traditional custom development as well as the rigidity of 4th generation type languages. We position ourselves as follows:

• Mendix versus Custom (offshore) Development (Java/.Net)
• Mendix versus 4GL
• Mendix versus SOA Platforms

Value proposition

Easily build agile business applications that can be implemented within any existing business and IT environment in a way that is:

• Fast - Develop and integrate dynamic business applications in short lead-times.
• Flexible - Extend the development process to business analysts & business owners.
• Future-proof - Easily adapt applications to changing business requirements.

MENDIX delivers an integrated software product (”Model-driven Application Platform”) that automates the creation and maintenance of process-centric, rich-Internet business applications and Web services. The product is easily integrated with existing systems, making it extremely easy for companies to adopt the platform and run it parallel (or on top of) existing, business-critical applications. The MENDIX product is designed to reach all business users, allowing managers, end-users, business consultants, developers and information architects to closely work together in automating & optimizing business processes.

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Mendix versus Custom (offshore) Development (Java/.NET)

Mendix is often used as an alternative or accelerator for custom development in Java or Microsoft .NET, often in offshore development centers. Mendix offers all the flexibility of standard programming languages without its disadvantages:

• Increase development speed en flexibility by eliminating unnecessary steps in the development cycle
• Give business users a more central role in the development process with more and shorter feedback loops
• Important architecture principles are automatically applied to enable scalability, security and high performance
• Mendix prevents you from having to invent the wheel time and again by offering out-of-the-box functionality (such as AJAX portal, business rules, workflow, security, mapping, reporting, etc)
• ‘Documentation’ is always and automatically up-to-date (remember: the model=application)

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Mendix versus 4GL tools

Whereas 4GL tools aimed to shorten the software development process, many of today´s 4GL implementations suffer from a lack of flexibility, innovation and a lock-in by proprietary or badly supported technology, often resulting in companies resorting to 3GL custom development. Mendix strives to overcome these issues by offering an open, standards-based platform that offers the best of both worlds. Many of our customers have already chosen to replace or migrate their 4GL apps to Mendix. Key reasons are:

• Combines both the advantages of Model-Driven development (speed & flexibility) with 3rd generation programming languages (freedom)
• Extend your functionality to the web with web 2.0 technologies
• Supports open standards to avoid vendor lock-in (Java, XSD’s, XPDL, BPEL, XForms, etc)

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Mendix versus SOA platforms

Since most of today’s SOA platforms have emerged from either the ERP or middleware space (often resulting from series of acquisitions), these products traditionally lack strong development capabilities when it comes to building new Service-oriented Business Applications. Mendix offers seamless integrations with these platforms (i.c. Oracle, BEA, IBM, Tibco and SAP) and strives to extend them with superior application development capabilities.

• Rapidly build new business applications without depending on the availability of Web services or a middleware layer
• Also migrate your “satellite” apps (Access, Excel, custom) to a standards-based “service-oriented” environment that’s compliant with your architecture
• Create superior service-oriented business applications (SOBA) with the same principles as the rest of your SOA (Business centric, flexible, lousely coupled)
• Use a Model-driven approach towards application development, enabling business and IT professionals to optimally work together
• Use Mendix as a more cost-effective tool environment
• Easily create new web services that can be exposed to a composite applications or Enterprise Service Bus
• Use already existing web services easily in new build applications