Total Visual Agent 2000 Released

New features, New Name for Award-winning Database Maintenance Tool

January 10, 2000
Vienna, VA

FMS, Inc. is pleased to ship Total Visual Agent 2000, the next generation of its popular Microsoft Access database maintenance and scheduling tool. Formerly called Total Access Agent, this award-winning product is now Total Visual Agent 2000 to reflect its appeal to the Microsoft Access and Visual Basic communities, and its support for Microsoft Office 2000.

Total Visual Agent 2000 is designed for database administrators, enterprise IT managers, and developers who deploy Microsoft Access/Jet databases or the new Microsoft Access Data Projects. For optimal performance, to recover unused disk space, and to prevent corruption, these files need to be periodically compacted, repaired, and backed up. In addition to these tasks, Total Visual Agent 2000 performs many other system administrative functions including data extracts while users are in the system (ideal for 24/7 operations), launching user defined code (e.g. to print reports or download/upload data), running command lines or batch files, and tracking database objects and records.

Total Visual Agent 2000 automatically performs these tasks on an unlimited number of databases across a network. Tasks can be scheduled to run hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or just once. A complete audit trail is maintained and should anything go wrong, an email automatically notifies the system administrator.

What's New in Total Visual Agent 2000

Total Visual Agent 2000 includes the following new features:

• Supports Microsoft Access 2000/Jet 4.0 database format (and earlier formats)
• Supports the new Microsoft Access Data Project (ADP) format
• Completely redesigned and streamlined user interface to make setting up and maintaining schedules easier than ever
• The new "Task Group" feature lets you manage and perform the same tasks on multiple databases
• Directory management of all the databases, ADPs, and/or other files in a directory without having to specify the file names in advance
• Long file name support in the archive (ZIP) files
• Sends email alerts to the system administrator via SMTP or MAPI (Outlook)
• New startup options to run the Total Visual Agent 2000 Monitor in a hidden state

"My clients absolutely love and depend on the previous Total Access Agent product," says John Viescas, Microsoft MVP and author of Running Microsoft Access 2000. "It allows them to schedule a 'no fuss, no muss' backup, repair and compact in the middle of the night. The new Total Visual Agent 2000 product blows the doors off the prior version. This utility is a 'must-have' for anyone using Microsoft Access databases for important business applications. I can't wait to get all my clients upgraded!"

"Developers often forget the system administration requirements of the applications they build," said Luke Chung, President of FMS, Inc. "With the widespread use of Microsoft Access/Jet databases in applications built with Microsoft Office, Visual Basic, Visual InterDev, C++, and other products, proper database maintenance is more critical than ever. Developers and system administrators know there are many tasks they should perform to keep their applications running optimally while anticipating failures. With Total Visual Agent 2000, these tasks are automated and can be scheduled during non-working hours or slow times so applications based on Jet and ADPs can be confidently deployed and maintained."

Licensing and Pricing

Total Visual Agent 2000 is licensed on a per installation basis. One installation can manage databases across an entire network. A single license is available at $299, and a 5-license package is available for $899 respectively. Existing Total Access Agent customers can upgrade to Total Visual Agent 2000 for $179. Site licenses are available by contacting FMS, Inc. Total Visual Agent can be purchased directly from FMS, through most corporate resellers, and international distributors. All FMS products offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

About FMS

Innovative software since 1986, FMS, Inc. is a privately held software development firm and the world's leading developer of Microsoft Access and Visual Basic related products. FMS currently has 13 products in its award-winning Total Access and Total VB family of products. Serving 90 of the Fortune 100 firms, FMS products are used by tens of thousands of customers in over 100 countries. Experts in the Microsoft Access and Visual Basic communities, FMS developers have written articles and books, and frequently speak at conferences and user group meetings throughout the United States and Europe including major Microsoft sponsored events such as TechEd, Advisor DevCon, and Microsoft Office and VBA Solutions conferences.