Q: What is Onyx's worldwide reach and coverage?
A: Onyx distributes its products in more than 30 countries worldwide, either directly or through its comprehensive partner network. Our software's 100 percent Web-based, thin-client architecture and support for Unicode enable our customers to implement in multiple countries and in multi-lingual environments. Our offices in North America, Asia, and Europe enable Onyx to offer 24-hour support around the globe.

Q: Do your products support multi-lingual implementations in which users access and store data in multiple languages in the same database?
A: Yes. Because Onyx products offer multi-byte character support via Unicode, our customers can access and store multi-lingual data in a single database. This is a core capability of our products.

Q: Are your products Unicode compliant at all tiers?
A: Yes. We've invested considerable time and resources to architect N-tiered products that are Unicode compliant at all tiers. Very few CRM vendors can make the same claim.

Q: How does Onyx software enable users of different languages to access a single database?
A: Onyx customers can provide multi-language access to a single database by creating a separate URL for each language. Each URL points to a single Onyx Enterprise Application Server, which would in turn, point to a common database, thereby consolidating the information.

Q: Do Onyx customers with multi-country, multi-lingual implementations need a separate server to support each country or language, or can they rely on one server for all countries or languages?
A: With our latest platform and use of Unicode, Onyx customers can rely on a single server and database to support multi-lingual users in multiple countries. Users would access the common database via the Internet, using a unique URL to support each language.

Q: Does Onyx enhance or customize its foreign language products so that they better meet local market needs?
A: Yes, on occasion. However, we try to balance such enhancements with global consistency across all language versions. For example, we recently customized our Japanese product so that it would correctly support the various Japanese alphabets (Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana, and Romaji) and Japanese naming conventions. We did so, however, in such a way that the Japanese version is still compatible with other language versions.

Q: Are there any configuration or setting changes required on the local client side to enable viewing of information in the local language?
A: No. Because we use Unicode, our customers do not have to change the "encoding" setting of their browsers to view the appropriate characters. Instead, this is performed automatically by the system. For example, our users are able to display French, German, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and other characters all on the same page.

Q: Do your products support multiple currencies?
A: Yes, Onyx products support multiple currencies. In fact, making use of the Exchange Rate table, it is possible to dynamically translate between a primary and secondary currency.

Q: With Onyx software can users enter, display, and update monetary amounts in local currencies?
A: Onyx products support all currencies (including the Euro) supported by Microsoft Windows. The process to add additional currencies is straightforward. Using the Exchange Rate Table, currencies can be converted for reporting, forecasting, quote generation, and other similar types of activities.

Q: Do your products support multiple time zones (MTZ)?
A: Yes, Onyx products support multiple time zones. We have invested considerable time and resources to this effort because we feel it is a prerequisite for global CRM.

Q: Do Onyx products automatically enter, update, and display dates and addresses in the appropriate local format?
A: Onyx products display dates, times, and currencies based on the user's operating system. In addition, certain country address types are automatically formatted.

Q: Does Onyx software employ some kind of translation memory for your localized versions?
A: Some of our foreign-language product versions employ translation memory tools. For more detailed information please contact an Onyx International Product Manager.

Q: What is the difference in terminology between DBCS and Unicode?
A: Double-Byte Character Set (DBCS) is a method for encoding the thousands of characters in Asian writing systems. However, different DBCS code pages support different languages: Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. We use "multi-byte" instead of "double-byte" because the word Unicode, specifically UTF-8, is a multi-byte encoding system which defines characters by using one to 6 bytes. The most common characters (i.e., English alphanumeric characters) use only one byte, while less-used characters and Asian characters may require multiple bytes to specify.

Q: Why don't all companies use DBCS or Unicode to enable their products for multi-lingual support?
A: There are two primary reasons: (1) Unicode didn't become an industry standard until the mid-1990s, (2) individually supporting double-byte code pages is a fairly engineering-intensive task. Forward-thinking companies, Onyx among them, architected their software to make the switch to a DBCS code page or Unicode. Other companies simply put this off until they can justify the business case for it. Many companies, however, don't even think about the need for multi-lingual support until they start to acquire international customers.

Q: Why does Onyx have a separate R&D group in Japan?
A: Japan is the second largest IT market and the second largest economy in the world. Onyx established a separate R&D group in Japan to take advantage of this immense business opportunity. Specifically, we have staffed an R&D team in Japan to: (1) provide better support to Japanese customers, (2) address Japanese-specific issues, and (3) create specific solutions for the Japanese market.

Internationalization

Localization

Multi-byte Character Support

International Product FAQ

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