ACORD announced a reciprocal membership agreement with IFX Forum. Both organizations set information technology standards for message transmissions in financial services industries. They will cooperate in the development of XML standards for the electronic exchange of data in the insurance and banking industries. The collaboration is typical of recent announcements of alliances between standards bodies to consolidate development. The arrangement will combine the insurance expertise of ACORD and the banking expertise of IFX Forum. The organizations will focus on the base IFX specification and the proposed ACORD Insurance XML specifications to produce a framework supporting XML-based transaction services. Joint participation is underway. ACORD and IFX Forum have exchanged memberships and committed to participation in each other’s working groups. ACORD participants are assessing the base IFX specification and supplying IFX Forum with recommendations. In turn, IFX Forum will route insurance-related issues through the ACORD standards process. The IFX specification defines a messaging standard for secured IP-based banking business messages over the public Internet or private networks. The significance of XML and IP for the insurance industry is the progression from batch store-and-forward EDI transmissions to real-time messaging. Insurance business benefits include fast, reliable rates, quotes, applications, policies, claims and other transactions among a variety of trading partners-carriers, producers, rating bureaus, third-party administrators and service providers. As members increasingly look to supporting electronic commerce across all lines of business, ACORD is pursuing multiple open partnerships and alliances with U.S. and international standards-setting organizations. The goal is worldwide e-commerce connectivity throughout the insurance industry. www.acord.org, www.IFXForum.org
Day: November 29, 1999 (Page 1 of 2)
OneSoft Corporation launched version 3.0 of its OneCommerce software. OneCommerce Enterprise Edition 3.0 is an XML-based solution, providing businesses with extensibility to optimize revenue. OneCommerce provides a patent-pending architecture that includes distinctive capabilities to attract and retain customers, such as Dynamic Personalization, for targeted and personalized marketing and merchandising to increase customer conversion rate; comprehensive content management to target customers with the right product and information; and remote site administration and control for non-technical business managers to make informed decisions. www.onecommerce.com
Interwoven, Inc. announced its second major initiative with IBM which integrates the IBM WebSphere product line with Interwoven’s product, TeamSite. The integrated solution allows customers to accelerate both time-to-Web and the evolution of eBusiness Web sites. This complements Interwoven’s first collaborative effort, the successful integration of TeamSite with IBM Net.Commerce, IBM’s leading eCommerce solution. The IBM WebSphere family, including the WebSphere Application Server and the WebSphere Studio Web application development environment, is a comprehensive system designed to help customers with high-performance Web sites to ease the transition from simple Web publishing to advanced eBusiness applications. WebSphere products leverage existing enterprise systems and extend them to the Web, while running on multiple IBM and non-IBM platforms. With TeamSite, customers have an enterprise-scale content management solution, including versioning, workflow control and efficient deployment of content for IBM WebSphere applications. TeamSite supports the IBM WebSphere Studio development environment and set of Web development tools for designing and building interactive Web sites for the IBM WebSphere Application Server. TeamSite is also compatible with IBM’s DB2 Universal Database. TeamSite allows the integration of IBM WebSphere application code, including JavaServer Pages and Java servlets, with all other Web content such as HTML and multi-media assets. The entire Web application is then quality assured within the TeamSite environment before being deployed to production. www.interwoven.com
Microsoft Corp. and New Era of Networks Inc. announced a strategic relationship to jointly enhance and market e-commerce integration solutions based on Microsoft platforms and NEON’s e-commerce Integration products. NEON is endorsing the Microsoft BizTalk Framework and BizTalk products and tools. In addition, NEON is joining the BizTalk steering committee as a leading e-commerce integration vendor. Others, including American Petroleum Institute, Ariba Inc., The Baan Co., The Boeing Co., Clarus Corp., Commerce One Inc., Concur Technologies Inc., Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA), J.D. Edwards & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Microsoft, Open Applications Group (OAG), PeopleSoft Inc., Pivotal Software Inc., RosettaNet and SAP AG serve as members of the committee. www.neonsoft.com, www.microsoft.com
webMethods, Inc. announced it will team with EDS to better serve clients implementing B2B e-commerce initiatives. Through this new relationship, EDS electronic business expertise and webMethods B2B software capabilities combine to provide comprehensive solutions for business-to-business e-commerce. webMethods B2B provides a business-to-business integration platform that makes it possible for companies to pursue direct integration with trading partners, while also participating in emerging B2B Marketplaces such as mySAP.com, the Ariba Network and Clarus SupplierUniverse. Through this partnership, EDS will incorporate webMethods B2B as part of the solution set it offers to EDS supply chain clients. webMethods B2B utilizes XML and open B2B standards, such as RosettaNet, OAG, OBI and ACORD, to build integrated business communities and enable companies to conduct business over the Internet with minimal stress to corporate resources and existing IT infrastructure. www.eds.com, www.webMethods.com
Chrystal Software announced Eclipse, a solution incorporating traditional Web pages and new, interactive content. Eclipse integrates with authoring software, Internet browsers, Web servers, and Web design software, and supports XML standards. With Chrystal Software’s Eclipse, businesses that want to add interactive content to their Web sites can do so rapidly and incrementally. Eclipse incorporates traditional Web site content, allowing the Webmaster to continue using familiar HTML editors, file system managers, and other tools. New, interactive content is defined and managed in a complementary fashion. Eclipse uses XML in a myriad of ways. As visitors move through the Web site, Eclipse combines XML user profiles and actions to generate interactive content requests. These requests are fulfilled with XML content, determined by a combination of content and tag searches. The resulting interactive content is styled and delivered to the visitor in rapid fashion. Very often, this interactive content is combined with other Web site content such as HTML and graphics files. The personalization is transparent to the visitor. Version 1.0 will be available in early 2000. www.chrystal.com
Sterling Software, Inc. announced the general availability of EUREKA:Portal 2.0, the latest enhancement to the company’s EUREKA:Suite family of integrated business intelligence tools. Sterling Software has advanced their business portal to offer a broader range of personalization options, easier interoperability with existing systems via XML, and enhanced support for business-to-business implementations. EUREKA:Portal 2.0 provides a single point-of-entry for a broad range of business intelligence and enterprise applications. For IT administrators, it offers a centralized and customizable information interface for every user within an organization. For business users, it expedites the location, retrieval and organization of essential business information in an accessible interactive Web environment. In addition to providing a platform for accessing the complete range of analysis and reporting tools in the EUREKA:Suite family, EUREKA:Portal 2.0 also integrates with other existing corporate data sources within an organization. EUREKA:Portal 2.0 provides an expanded level of interoperability through XML and directory service enhancements. Significant upgrades to the product’s XML API broaden the Portal’s open environment and simplify the publishing of external file formats to the Portal. Customers can combine information from multiple sources and customize their access to the Portal via third-party applications. www.sterling.com/eureka
TSI International Software Ltd. announced that it has combined its Mercator integration broker software with its Novera Web application integration product to deliver a – B2B integration broker. As the first new offering from the recent acquisition of Novera Software, this product will provide TSI Software’s customers with comprehensive capabilities, including XML integration and transformation, for deploying complex B2B integration solutions quickly, easily and cost-effectively. Customers will be able to Internet-enable any application by exposing and transforming existing business process interfaces as XML messages to trading partners over public and private networks and leverage their existing IT infrastructure in new B2B e-commerce initiatives. Using Mercator, customers are able to transform directly between XML schemas and schemas for any new and legacy supported content type, including EDI, CII, S.W.I.F.T., HL7, ACORD, SAP, PeopleSoft and RDBMS. Mercator provides the tools for extending the integration of applications and business processes to trading partners using XML, while protecting IT investment in existing information systems. Mercator’s XML support, coupled with Novera for hosting component-based server applications for the Internet, enables eBusinesses to integrate complex business processes with trading partners over public and private networks. Mercator and Novera are available today. TSI Software plans to offer the B2B integration broker in Q1 2000. Pricing and packaging details will be announced at a later date. www.tsisoft.com
