Powerhouse 4GL History
Powerhouse 4GL was launched in 1982 and was, at the time, a visionary fourth-generation programming language offered by Quasar (which changed its name to Cognos in 1983). The company was subsequently acquired by IBM in 2008 and then by UNICOM in late 2013.
Powerhouse 4GL allowed developers to very quickly develop robust, complex applications in a fraction of the time that traditional development languages otherwise allowed. A key element was the central data dictionary that defined all attributes of the database, tables, and columns, and the relationships between them.
While many companies adopted Powerhouse 4GL in the 1980s and 1990s, its poor browser compatibility caused it to lose ground to other development languages.
There are still hundreds of companies around the world using legacy systems written using Powerhouse 4GL. Those companies regularly need help supporting the system, or migrating to more modern platforms. These are often core systems supporting key business functions that also require routine maintenance, changes, and integration.
Influential Software and Powerhouse 4GL
Influential Software was one of the first supporters for Powerhouse 4GL from its very early days. Our company has worked with the Powerhouse 4GL family of products for over 20 years, and we maintain a core team with Powerhouse skills in-house, ready to be deployed as required.
Our Powerhouse 4GL experience includes the following companies and systems:
- Harcourt Publishers
- Elsevier
- Mirror Group Newspapers
- The Stationery Office
- HSBC
- Sea Containers
- Reed Business Information
- Turpin Distribution
- Protega Paints
- PKF LittleJohn (AVATAR)
- Publisyst
- Royal Joh. Enschedé
Historical PowerHouse Support
Download the Powerhouse Requirements DataSheet
