<s>
Infor	B-Application
XA	I-Application
is	O
commercial	O
ERP	O
software	O
used	O
to	O
control	O
the	O
operations	O
of	O
manufacturing	O
companies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
prior	O
name	O
,	O
MAPICS	B-Application
,	O
is	O
an	O
acronym	O
for	O
Manufacturing	O
,	O
Accounting	O
and	O
Production	O
Information	O
Control	O
Systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MAPICS	B-Application
was	O
created	O
by	O
IBM	O
,	O
International	O
Business	O
Machines	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
product	O
is	O
now	O
owned	O
by	O
Infor	O
Global	O
Solutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
all	O
MAPICS	B-Application
code	O
ran	O
only	O
on	O
IBM	O
midrange	O
systems	O
like	O
the	O
IBM	O
System	B-Device
34	I-Device
,	O
36	B-Device
,	O
38	B-Device
and	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
AS/400	I-Device
,	O
via	O
succeeding	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
platform	O
-	O
currently	O
IBM	B-Application
i	I-Application
on	O
IBM	B-Device
Power	I-Device
Systems	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
versions	O
were	O
written	O
in	O
IBM	O
RPG	O
,	O
augmented	O
with	O
Control	B-Operating_System
Language	I-Operating_System
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IBM	O
's	O
version	O
of	O
SQL	B-Language
is	O
also	O
utilized	O
on	O
the	O
OS	O
integrated	O
database	O
system	O
called	O
Db2	B-Application
for	I-Application
i	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recent	O
development	O
efforts	O
have	O
added	O
object	O
oriented	O
components	O
written	O
in	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
which	O
extends	O
a	O
portion	O
of	O
the	O
XA	O
product	O
to	O
servers	O
running	O
Java	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
Infor	B-Application
XA	I-Application
product	O
still	O
requires	O
the	O
IBM	B-Application
i	I-Application
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Java	B-Language
components	O
provide	O
an	O
application	O
runtime	O
which	O
allow	O
user	O
customizations	O
,	O
a	O
rich	O
user	O
interface	O
,	O
an	O
optional	O
web-based	O
interface	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
support	O
for	O
XML	B-Protocol
interfaces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1977	O
IBM	O
develops	O
and	O
markets	O
MAPICS	B-Application
1993	O
IBM	O
sells	O
MAPICS	B-Application
to	O
Marcam	O
1997	O
Marcam	O
splits	O
into	O
two	O
companies	O
and	O
MAPICS	B-Application
Incorporated	O
is	O
created	O
2000	O
MAPICS	B-Application
Inc	O
.	O
acquires	O
Pivotpoint	O
(	O
for	O
its	O
MS	O
Windows	O
based	O
Point.Man	O
ERP	O
system	O
)	O
2003	O
MAPICS	B-Application
Inc	O
.	O
acquires	O
Frontstep	O
(	O
for	O
its	O
Progress	O
and	O
.NET	O
based	O
SyteLine	O
ERP	O
system	O
)	O
2005	O
MAPICS	B-Application
Incorporated	O
is	O
acquired	O
by	O
Infor	O
.	O
</s>
