webMethods, Inc., and MRO.com, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PSDI, announced the companies have entered a strategic partnership to deliver a series of XML-based e-Commerce solutions to PSDI customers. Under the agreement, PSDI will incorporate webMethods’ XML technology into MRO.com, PSDI’s business-to-business e-Commerce network that connects buyers and suppliers over the Internet. MRO.com is an online marketplace that supports the procurement, management, control and purchase of all MRO goods and services. Using webMethods B2B, MRO.com will provide buyers with direct access to Web-hosted and XML-based catalogs and real-time connections to the back-end systems of their suppliers, further reducing the typically high costs associated with traditional, paper-based MRO processes. In addition, PSDI plans to extend its XML-enabled set of Java-based business application interfaces to further enhance MAXIMO, its industry leading EAM system, for business-to-business integration with enterprise systems. This will allow integration with applications and systems from a wide array of vendors inside or outside the firewall. www.webmethods.com, www.psdi.com
Month: July 1999 (Page 4 of 9)
Open Market, Inc. announced that it has partnered with SpeechWorks International, Inc. Open Market will be working with SpeechWorks to sell commerce solutions coupling Transact with SpeechSite, a new solution announced today by SpeechWorks, to provide customers with a single speech activated system that gives customers the ability to conduct commerce, even if they do not have access to a computer. Working with Transact, SpeechSite will enable customers to purchase products and services, and check order status, from any telephone. www.openmarket.com
IntraNet Solutions, Inc. has announced two new products — Intra.doc!
Uniscape announced the launch of its E-Services Translation Portal (ETP), Uniscape.com, a vertical marketplace for translation services that enables businesses to conduct multi-lingual e-commerce. Uniscape.com will enable companies to make human translation quicker, more efficient and reusable. Using Uniscape.com, companies will have the ability to work with translators anywhere in the world and offer them free use of Uniscape’s XML-based Translator Studio. The technology is designed specifically to aid the human translation process by offering access to a scalable translation memory database, workflow automation, content management, reporting and filtering technology. As the translators do their work, it is captured in a scalable translation memory database, where it can be automatically reused across a company’s future translation projects. When content is updated on a Web site or new content is created, the system automatically checks to see if the key terminology, sentences or paragraphs have ever been translated previously. Prior translations are automatically pulled from the database and translators complete the partially translated files using Translator Studio. Companies are charged a minimal transaction fee of a few pennies for each word processed, with discounts based on the overall translation volume and percentage of reuse. Workflow automation automatically routes files and communications between content producers, translators, reviewers, quality assurance and publishers; according to a company’s own business rules and objectives. Reporting capabilities enable companies to track every aspect of their translation and publishing activities. The site will be open in September. Pricing is determined by number of words to be translated and volume of reuse. www.uniscape.com
Microsoft Corp. announced it will hold an open design review for gathering industry feedback on new metadata extensions that will enable a business to integrate its line-of-business, data warehousing, and knowledge management environments. Also today, the Meta Data Coalition (MDC) formally announced that the Open Information Model (OIM) has been accepted as the metadata standard. The proposed extensions to the OIM capture business knowledge such as goals, objectives, processes and rules, as well as terminology and categorizations, enabling the automated linkage between a wide variety of business information types. This linkage is needed for the creation of enterprise information portals or “digital dashboards,” which enable real-time decision-making by providing businesses with a single window into all their information. The OIM extensions are the result of extensive collaboration with industry partners and represent the first milestone in the effort initiated with the Meta Data Coalition in December 1998. The open design review period for the new model extensions begins today with the availability of preliminary specifications for the following three models: Knowledge description model, Business engineering model, and Business rule model. This phase of the open design process is expected to conclude with an industry partner review in fall of 1999, where updated specifications, final input and early product demonstrations will be presented. Information about obtaining a copy of the specifications and providing feedback during the design review period is available through the Microsoft Web site at www.microsoft.com/repository/ or the Meta Data Coalition Web site at www.mdcinfo.com
Arbortext has launched an XML advisory site to be hosted by Eve Maler. The site provides free insights on XML, as well as a wealth of XML-related resources and links. Eve’s Advisory provides a forum for questions and is designed to give clear, concise answers. The debut issue of Eve’s Advisory, entitled, “Validation: It’s a Good Thing,” answers a reader’s question about whether XML will free him from the tyranny of rigid structure in document authoring. Readers can send their own questions to askeve@arbortext.com. The site also provides links to resources, such as standards information, XML authoring tips, and calendars and agendas for upcoming educational events, end-user forums, and online product tutorials. www.arbortext.com
Oracle Corporation announced dramatic growth and demand for Oracle on Linux with strong adoption in both enterprise and general business markets. Oracle also announced the general availability of Oracle8i on Linux, after completion of an early adopter’s program. www.oracle.com
Andromedia, Inc. announced LikeMinds Personalization Server 3.0. LikeMinds Personalization Server 3.0 makes the most of every click by utilizing virtually any source of consumer behavior data — be it online or offline, implicit or explicit, real time or historical, transactional or navigational — to personalize every interaction from the first click to the final checkout. LikeMinds Personalization Server 3.0 introduces two new personalization engines: The Purchase Engine and the Clickstream Engine. The Purchase Engine enables e-commerce vendors to leverage valuable offline and/or online purchase history data to make personalized recommendations. The Clickstream Engine builds customer profiles in real-time, based on navigational data gathered as customers browse a site. This allows an e-commerce vendor who lacks purchase history data and doesn’t want to force users to fill out lengthy questionnaires to still offer personalized content and product recommendations. The new engines enable LikeMinds to learn by unobtrusively observing online navigational behavior and shopping activities and automatically adapt in real-time to changes in users’ tastes and preferences. The Clickstream and Purchase Engines complement the Preference Engine and Product Matching Engine, which were built into previous versions of LikeMinds Personalization Server. The Preference Engine leverages explicitly stated preferences. The Product Matching Engine makes recommendations based on product similarities, enabling vendors to immediately recommend new products, before customers have seen, rated, or bought them. No other personalization solution offers e-marketers so many options for leveraging consumer behavior data to personalize interactions with users on their Web sites. LikeMinds Personalization Server 3.0 requires Windows NT 4.0 running on Pentium-class PCs or Solaris 2.6 running on Sun SPARC stations or Ultra SPARC workstations, any CGI-compliant Web server, and ODBC-compliant databases including Oracle 8 and SQL Server 7.0. LikeMinds Personalization Server 3.0 is priced from $25,000 and is available immediately. www.andromedia.com
