Electronic catalog 2.0 - communicode implements infuniq web 4 at WILO SE/Paradigm shift in performance thanks to NoSQL

In version 4, the electronic catalog of infuniq, the subsidiary of the Essen-based company, has been completely redesigned and made more efficient. With infuniq, companies can publish web-based product catalogs in different languages and different layouts. All product data can be updated immediately and visualized flexibly. The e-catalog can be used to implement a web store for the integration of the ERP system. PowerSearch and ordering functions enable easy handling.

Pilot project WILO SE

In a pilot project, communicode implemented infuniq at WILO SE, one of the internationally leading manufacturers of pumps and pump systems, and ensured a paradigm shift in performance, among other things, thanks to NoSQL (Not only SQL). "Maintainability, stability and performance of the system have been noticeably improved at Wilo", comments Axel Helbig, Managing Director of communicode GmbH & Co. KG.

Due to the size of the data stock of product information at Wilo, relational databases suffered from enormous performance problems. Therefore, communicode decided to use a NoSQL-based solution for the back-end. This offers considerably faster data access and increases the performance of the online catalog many times over. Well-known projects such as eBay and Facebook already rely on NoSQL implementations for their back-end. "We needed a new solution to cope with the constantly growing amount of data. With infuniq web we were able to shorten response times and increase performance enormously," explains Thomas Milde, Head of Technical Communication at WILO SE.

Significant performance increase

For the implementation of the front-end at Wilo, communicode used the open source Spring Web Framework for the Java platform. This is subject to the Apache license and can therefore be used freely. As a front-end solution, the framework is already established on the market and has proven itself in many reference projects. "Support times have improved significantly," expresses Thomas Milde. "We now also perform import processes in the shortest possible time."

The application of the programming paradigm REST (Representational State Transfer) also contributes to an increase in the performance of infuniq web. Henceforth, all URLs are easier to read and the page content corresponds exactly to the result of a server-side action. The general use of proven technologies such as jQuery, Javascript, Java Server Pages or XHTML complete the performance of the electronic catalog.