You are the linchpin around which our technology revolves. Every time you help customers with their design, development or deployment issues, you demonstrate the power of Macromedia technology.

For that reason, it is vital that you receive information regarding upcoming product releases, product updates, bug fixes, relevant industry developments and vital technical knowledge as quickly as possible. Providing you with information sooner, enables you to plan ahead. Likewise, extending your knowledge empowers you to provide customers with better, more efficient service.

To that end, Macromedia has reengineered Up-To-The-Minute. The format isn't the only thing we've changed. You will discover additional content—including advance notice regarding products under development and quarterly observations regarding Macromedia technology—and you will also benefit from our continuous efforts to keep you informed regarding upcoming events, insight into specific products, links to recent revelations found in the press and opportunities to learn how this partnership benefits organizations like yours.

David Mendels, Chief Strategy Officer, SVP Macromedia Alliance

Located in Northborough, MA, Synthenet Corporation builds ColdFusion database-driven solutions–from corporate web sites, Intranets and internal work flow applications to e-commerce initiatives–that solve business challenges for clients. As part of a web development process, they have designed and implemented a comprehensive Content Management Solution. Clients can choose to add modules for ecommerce, ecommunications (newsletters, etc.), surveys and intranets. They have successfully delivered over 125 projects for clients including: Brooks Automation, Jessica's Biscuit (http://www.ecookbooks.com/), Polaroid, Working Advantage (http://www.workingadvantage.com/), palmgear.com, and many more. Meeting the client's specific needs, Synthenet saves clients thousands of dollars and hours of valuable time while increasing clinet revenune through expert use of web-based technology.

top

The months of hard work have paid off and the Neo release is shaping up beautifully. With two alphas under our belt we're readying our first beta release. The ColdFusion product team has been feverishly defining, coding, testing and documenting many new features for you to work with. There are too many to mention here but I’m very excited about things like native XML support, ColdFusion components and new web services capabilities.

As the beta is nearly upon us, I'd like to ask that you help us make this the best version of ColdFusion ever. How do you do this? In the near future, you'll receive an invitation to participate in the beta program. Download the bits, install the product and start using Neo. Try running one of your CF5 apps, parse some XML, consume some web services. Everything you can do now to test the product will help us ensure Neo is rock solid. I look forward to seeing you out on the beta forums.

Join us February 5 for an in-depth Webex conference call of Neo.

Libby Freligh, Senior Project Manager, Neo

top

Interested in Sponsoring a Macromedia Seminar?
Please visit Partners Only for details and how to apply.

Please note that the Partner Webex Events are intended for the Macromedia Alliance only. Please do not forward this calendar or register non Macromedia Alliance partners for these events. The information presented in the Webex events may constitute "Confidential Information", and you shall use and maintain the confidentiality of such Confidential Information in accordance with the Partner Agreement you or your company has entered into with Macromedia. Do not disclose this Confidential Information to anyone except as permitted by the terms of the Partner Agreement. Please refer to the Partner Agreement with Macromedia regarding the details of your confidentiality obligations.

January

February

Is there a Partner Webex topic you would like to see offered? If so, email mailto:partners@macromedia.com?subject=Webex Topic with the subject field "Webex Topic" and give us a description of what you would like to see offered.

top

Interested in Sponsoring a Macromedia Seminar?
We are offering our partners the ability to apply to be a tabletop sponsor at one of the above seminars. Please visit the Macromedia Events page for dates and locations, and visit Partners Only to fill out the application form online.

Success Story Winner
Congratulations to Domain Technologies of Arlington, VA. Domain Technologies recently published their Success Story and were chosen in our drawing to win a new Xootr Scooter.

Take advantage of this great opportunity to showcase your success story by accessing My Account, Edit Published Information, Success Stories Link, Add a Success Story. Complete all required fields, save and we will review and publish your Success Story to the Macromedia website.

New Partner Enablement Webcast Format
Don't miss this chance—the first Tuesday of every month we will be hosting 3 web-seminars on topics only for partners. Partners must be in the current Macromedia Alliance Program and under NDA to attend. For February the topics include J2EE, Neo and some product futures. Please go to Partners Only for a full listing and how to register.

What's New in Partners Only
- ColdFusion ROI Paper
- West Coast Partner Day Presentations
- Neo FAQ
- Neo White Paper
- Neo Customer Presentation
- New JRun Sales Tools
- SE Request Form
- Marketing Request Form
- Partner Enablement Calendar.

top

Enabling Customers to Maximize the Return on Their Technology Investment
by Lisa Crounse, Marketing Manager Web Authoring Tools, Macromedia, Inc.

More than ever before, IT organizations need to justify every dollar spent on web development projects. At the same time, the demand for new web applications that support a company's business has increased. Under these conditions, development teams are being asked to accomplish more with less. For that reason, Macromedia has worked hard to integrate our server-side and client-side technologies in order to enable customers to streamline development, create more powerful web applications and enhance user experiences. As a result, our customers will now be able to achieve even higher returns on their investment in Macromedia technology.

Macromedia Flash 5 and ColdFusion 5: Two Award Winners Working As One
Macromedia ColdFusion and Macromedia Flash are a perfect fit. By combining the cross-platform interactivity and visual impact of Macromedia Flash with the powerful, data-driven capabilities of ColdFusion, developers can greatly enhance the user experience for websites and create more powerful web applications.

Macromedia Flash—with its approachable authoring environment and the ubiquity of the Macromedia Flash Player—is the standard for creating and displaying rich media content on the web. ColdFusion, for its part, enables hundreds of thousands of developers to easily create dynamic websites, intranet applications, online stores, or e-learning solutions with an intuitive tag-based server scripting language. Increasingly, developers are leveraging the tight integration between these two products to enhance site performance, extend application interactivity, and increase development team productivity. Used together, this winning combination enables customers to achieve unmatched productivity and empowers development teams to create amazing user experiences.

Delivering Optimal Performance and Increased Interactivity
You can display and manipulate data in a browser using Macromedia Flash, but this capability is exponentially more powerful when coupled with an application server because database connectivity and a server-side scripting environment enables developers to dynamically generate the content. This keeps website content fresh and lets users experience a more intuitive front-end. Recognized as the power behind many of the Internet's most innovative websites, ColdFusion is the ideal environment for building the server side of dynamic Macromedia Flash applications.

ColdFusion provides one of the quickest and easiest routes to authoring server-side content for Macromedia Flash. This is especially the case for Macromedia Flash developers who possess little to no server-side scripting experience. Because the intuitive, tag-based ColdFusion scripting language is very similar to HTML, it is easy to learn and enables developers to accomplish complicated server-side tasks quickly. At the same time, ColdFusion provides advanced application services and a powerful application server infrastructure that empowers developers to create sophisticated functionality when it's needed.

Real World Tips for Integrating Macromedia Flash and ColdFusion
Webvertising, Inc. combined Macromedia Flash and ColdFusion to build an application that empowers hotels to optimize business opportunities through a web-based central reservation system, iHotelier. Jim Whitney, Chief Technology Officer at Webvertising, shares seven tips that will help development teams fully leverage the capabilities of these two technologies.

Macromedia Flash and ColdFusion Resource Center
Includes articles, tutorials, sample code and other resources that enables developers to integrate Macromedia Flash and ColdFusion quickly and easily.

top

Macromedia Flash/ Dreamweaver
Get your Free Solutions Kit from Macromedia
Are you wrestling with accessibility issues? Do you want to move your training resources online? Problem solved. Make your web content accessible, learn how to build your training online, and get started using Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver—with the Macromedia Solutions Kit. This 2 CD Kit is full of resources including product extensions, templates, guidelines, training and more.

Customers who purchase or upgrade Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Ultra Dev, the eLearning Studio or any studio version of these products will receive the Solutions Kit free. Partners who are members of the Associate and Alliance levels as of January 31 will receive this kit for free.

Find out more:
www.macromedia.com/resources/special/solutions_kit/

Director
Find out how the Australian Army improved knowledge retention, increased skill aptitude, and saved money with real-time training simulation created with Macromedia Director Shockwave Studio. To learn more visit the Macromedia Showcase.

w3d SDK program now available online: The w3d SDK Program is a free program that will enable the 3D community to standardize on a single, powerful, ubiquitous platform for displaying 3D content on the web. This platform is Macromedia Shockwave Player.
Learn more about the w3D SDK Program.

See what others are creating with Macromedia Director Shockwave Studio and get inspired. You'll find examples of learning, merchandising, games and entertainment and technology demo pieces. Visit www.macromedia.com/software/director/special/inspiration/

Dreamweaver UltraDev and Dreamweaver
Boys and Girls Town Dreamweaver/UltraDev showcase, shows first hand how to take a site created in FrontPage and move it into Dreamweaver to create a data-driven, cost effective website. Read more about Boys and Girls Town.

Training
We are excited to announce the new Macromedia Authorized Training Program has been launched, which is the premier channel for end user Customer Training. Check out the list of new courses offered by these partners.

Macromedia Press
Are you wanting to sharpen your Macromedia skills? If so, check out all the dynamic books Macromedia Press has to offer.

Hot off the Press:
JRun Web Application Construction Kit
Authorware 6: Training from the Source

top

The App Server Market Tightens Up
By Andrew Binstock
"JRun from Macromedia should be considered a market leader. The product is excellent and fills a need by catering to smaller sites that need easy-to-run J2EE servers."

Top Five Marketing Predictions for 2002
By Chee Wee

Macromedia® Dreamweaver® 4 Jump Start Kit
By Jennifer Kyrnin

Macromedia to aid the disabled online
By Gwendelyn Mariano

top