Delphi 5 Enterprise is a high-productivity development solution for Internet and distributed computing. Delphi's InternetExpress includes the Web Client Page Wizard for creating flexible extensible systems to support e-commerce using HTML 4 and XML. It also includes the MIDAS PageProducer and WebBroker for building distributed HTML applications.

Gain fast access to all types of information with ADOExpress, and boost your development team's productivity with TeamSource. Scale your Internet applications using MIDAS for leveraging all the distributing computing standards such as CORBA, COM, and MTS. Build, debug, and deploy robust applications using the Visual Component Library with more than 200 reusable components with source, and use InterBase Express to create turnkey database systems.

Borland Delphi is to integrated development environments (IDEs) as the Macintosh is to personal computers. Like the Mac, Delphi is technically superior to its competitors in many ways and has a devoted following of users. It isn't as popular as its competitors in terms of raw sales volume, but if you use--or try--Delphi you probably won't care. Delphi is a pleasure to work with, and this Enterprise edition brings its intelligent tools to bear on applications that rely on database access, network communications, or a combination of the two. If you prefer Object Pascal to Visual Basic and want to do serious network, database, and internationalized programming, you'll love Delphi 5 Enterprise.

Chief among the attractions of the Enterprise edition on the database-development side is its support for Microsoft SQL Server 7, something that no other version of Delphi includes. You can refer to ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) with Delphi's new ADOExpress object; developers can build database interfaces on top of SQL Server back ends without dealing with ADO directly. There's similar support for InterBase 6.0 (a copy of which ships with Delphi 5 Enterprise) and Oracle 8i. The Enterprise edition also comes with SQL drivers for Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Microsoft, and other database servers, with unlimited permission to distribute them with the applications you create.

Borland's Multi-tIer Distributed Application Services (MIDAS) system remains at the heart of Delphi's database development capability, but it's been enhanced with stateless Remote Data Modules (RDMs). RDMs make it easier to create database applications that behave properly in situations in which bandwidth is minimal or unreliable. MIDAS also now has some support for Extensible Markup Language (XML). The Enterprise edition includes a set of tools for XML generation and parsing, so you can dynamically serve XML documents to clients and take XML data as input. There are tools for distributed computing, too, including a debugger that works with remote CORBA and COM resources.

Delphi now has better support for development teams (in the form of a to-do list and a Project Browser tool). Internationalization is easier, too: The Translation Suite allows you to isolate different languages' character strings--the German and Gujarati for "Close File," for example--in separate library files. You can write for languages such as Chinese and Korean with double-byte characters, but Unicode support remains poor. The debugger now allows you to define and toggle sets of breakpoints.

There's an assortment of bonus goodies in this kit, too:

• Borland JBuilder 2, for Java development
• Borland C++ Builder 3, for C/C++ work
• HoTMetaL Pro 5.0, for HTML authoring
• And the Delphi Companion Tools CD, which contains tools from companies other than Borland. Some of them are good (such as the full version of the UnitOOPS Object Linking and Embedding components), but others are just freeware and demo versions of other products you can buy.

Annoyingly, the Delphi 5 installation routine won't check for sufficient disk space before beginning to copy files. If you lack room (the amount required varies according to the options you select), the installation wizard will complete only part of its job before stopping, forcing you to go back and remove the partially installed software before attempting another installation.

Borland recommends running Delphi 5 Enterprise on a Pentium 90 with 32 MB of RAM and as little as 80 MB of disk space. Less optimistically, we found a "typical" installation filling more than 200 MB on the disk (250 MB to be safe). Performance on a 500 MHz Pentium III with 256 MB of RAM was solid but hardly blinding; buyers should err toward the higher end, as with any development environment.

Make sure you have plenty of disk space available when you set out to install Delphi 5 Enterprise, and you'll be thrilled by the additions to the Delphi development environment. --David Wall

Delphi 5 is a fast and productive Windows development tool for building Web and database applications. Delphi includes a professional integrated development environment, WebBroker, Native Internet Components, InterBase Express, and robust debugging tools. Understand and navigate your code and data modules with the Project Browser, Code Explorer, and Data Module Designer views. Build and reuse COM objects and servers, including a complete suite of MS Office automation controllers. Delphi increases productivity and manages the entire development cycle with more than 150 reusable components, the Advanced Project Manager, and a fast 32-bit compiler to deliver reliable applications to market faster.

ARCserveIT Advanced Edition was created to meet the expanded needs of most midsize to large organizations. The Advanced Edition combines industry-proven technology and ease of use with advanced features and scalability to deliver unsurpassed storage management. Ideally suited for multiserver and heterogeneous environments, ARCserveIT/Advanced Edition provides centralized management of all Workgroup and/or Advanced Edition storage servers throughout your network, and offers a set of options that provide the functionality and scalability needed to meet the demands of the most complex environments.

Backup agents deliv around-the-clock online backup and restoration of popular databases. These backup agents provide additional security with maximum data integrity when ARCserveIT backups or database backups are performed, even if users are currently accessing data. Backup agents provide protection for individual tables paces and/or the complete database including log files and control files, providing backup administrators with a database object view rather than just a listing of lower-level file and volume names. The number of libraries that can be installed on one computer is limited only by your computer's available resources and system performance.

When you want added functionality for more advanced installation routines, InstallBuilder is the tool to use. InstallBuilder features Wise's advanced technology, including fully customizable script editing, integrated, real-time debugging, custom dialog and graphic creation, and built-in Windows API calling. InstallBuilder also features SmartPatch for creating efficient installation patches between different versions of an application.

Delphi 5 is a fast and productive Windows development tool for building Web and database applications. Delphi includes a professional development environment, WebBroker, Native Internet Components, InterBase Express, and robust debugging tools. Understand and navigate your code and data modules with the Project Browser, Code Explorer, and Data Module Designer views. Visually build components for your business with Frames. Build and reuse COM objects and servers, including a complete suite of MS Office automation controllers. Delphi increases productivity and manages the entire development cycle with more than 150 reusable components, the Advanced Project Manager and a fast 32-bit compiler to deliver reliable applications to market faster.