E-Z Data, Inc. and InSystems announced a cooperative marketing agreement. This agreement, which will include both joint marketing and development initiatives, will result in a solution that will enable insurance agencies, agents, and brokers to leverage the Internet to reduce policy issuance time from weeks to days, while improving their ability to service and market to their customers. With E-ZData and InSystems’ solutions working together, information will be shared between the two systems to instantly trigger the application process automatically populating all necessary forms with correct customer information. Through this joint solution, agents and brokers will be able to eliminate manual processes, significantly streamline the capture and accuracy of applicant information, and reduce policy issuance time from weeks to days. In addition, agencies, agents and brokers will be able to facilitate their one-to-one relationships by delivering information on additional products and services personalized for their customers. www.ez-data.com, www.insystems.com
Day: November 3, 1999
Cimtek Commerce announced that its Internet trading hubs, HIDAHELP.com and medicalbuyer.com, will now support XML. By leveraging XML technology along with its current EDI capability, Cimtek Commerce is a vertical e-commerce trading hub serving the medical supply industry to enable all buyers and sellers, regardless of size or current technology infrastructure, to participate in web-based business transactions. Commerce will also leverage the capabilities in Microsoft’s upcoming new release of SQL 7.5 to directly accept and process XML-based transmissions. www.cimtekcommerce.com
The DocSpace Company Inc. announced that Critical Path, Inc. has signed a definitive acquisition agreement to acquire The DocSpace Company Inc. Through DocSpace, Critical Path’s menu of services will now add guaranteed delivery, universal file access, and collaboration services. These services are offered, in an integrated way, with multiple security levels, from industry standard SSL to PKI in conjunction with partners like Verisign and RSA. DocSpace allows users to digitally sign and encrypt each file they send, store and share using only a Web browser. Files can be in any format: documents, multimedia, CAD/CAM, etc. www.DocSpace.com, www.cp.net
The Open Applications Group, a publisher of XML-based content announced they have posted 122 XML schemas for business transactions to BizTalk.org. This set of transaction definitions represents a rich set of content that organizations can use to enable faster and more efficient interoperability. The Open Applications Group is rapidly becoming known as an XML content developer. Currently, the OAGI is developing more business transactions schemas, and they hope to collaborate with vertical industry groups to pursue the development of convergent architecture and content. The OAGI is a charter member of the BizTalk steering committee and is an industry contributor to the development and adoption of XML and XML-based content. They have built a body of work called the Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS), which defines a set of components, processes and interfaces for use in e-Business, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Financials, and Human Resources applications. www.openapplications.org
VirtualSellers.com Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of Tag Activated Markup Enhancer (TAME), a proprietary programming language, as part of its purchase of assets of Clickshop, a Washington state-based software developer. TAME provides similar characteristics to Java, ASP, PERL and Javascript, and represents the core software used to create VirtualSellers.com’s shopping cart software. Ownership of the TAME programming language gives VirtualSellers.com incredible flexibility when creating customized e-commerce solutions for its clients. TAME’s natural interaction of XML enables VirtualSellers.com to pursue its long-term technology strategy. The company recognizes that XML is the new standard in long-distance data interchange, replacing EDI.One of the main benefits of the TAME programming language is that it is a platform independent, server side application language that will maximize data transfer and data integrity. TAME allows the average Internet user to minimize end-user processing and bandwidth utilization, and accordingly reduces the page load time. All data interaction occurs at the Internet Web site server prior to distribution. www.virtualsellers.com
Technology Solutions Company (TSC) announced it has acquired CourseNet Systems for an undisclosed amount. TSC will integrate CourseNet into the company’s Knowledge Management business unit to meet the growing demand for software and services that help companies manage important information. CourseNet’s XML-based software allows users to create and reuse “learning objects,” which can be integrated into multiple training programs with minimal effort. With this software, TSC’s Knowledge Management suite of tools allows companies to author, deliver, and administer online training to identify experts, collaborate in the development of new knowledge, and share knowledge with the entire organization and even the entire supply chain. www.techsol.com
