Vignette Corporation and Viant Corporation announced a strategic alliance to help companies build effective Internet businesses. Together, they will address the broad-ranging and complex needs of global companies seeking to transform their businesses through the Internet. By combining Vignette’s StoryServer technology platform with Viant’s ability to tailor technology to meet business goals, the combined team will help businesses compete online. The companies plan to offer full solutions that serve the needs of Fortune 1000 companies, new spin-off companies, and startup companies that are building a presence on the Web. Viant will maintain a core set of consultants trained and experienced in Vignette products and technologies. The partnership will allow Vignette and Viant to build the right solution for customers more quickly, while providing these customers with confidence in the underlying technology and services. www.viant.com, www.vignette.com
Year: 1999 (Page 53 of 97)
Allaire Corporation introduced Allaire Spectra, a packaged system for content management, e-commerce and personalization that enables corporations to embrace the Web as a strategic center of their businesses. In beta testing today at over 170 sites, Allaire Spectra is designed to use best-practices established by successful Internet businesses, uniting content, commerce and customer interaction capabilities into a common model for enterprise-wide Web systems. Incorporating best practices in building and running large-scale Web businesses, Allaire Spectra is based on the concept of “transactive content” — systems that combine a tight relationship between the management of Web content assets, services that extend a company’s business models into e-commerce, and the ability to deliver this package to the customer in a rich, personalized manner. Allaire Spectra is designed around a model and methodology for building large scale content and commerce systems that embrace the idea that every participant in an enterprise has a unique set of requirements to be productive in their use of the Web. This spectrum of participants spans system administrators, developers, designers, business managers and users, as well as customers, partners, and site affiliates. With Allaire Spectra implemented across an enterprise, each member of the spectrum can use the Web in a logical way. For example, it gives business managers and users a rich set of Web-based tools for managing workflows and security roles, conducting analysis and reporting on the business, and self-managing content and commerce assets without any IT intervention. The six core services of Allaire Spectra include: Content Management, Workflow and Process Automation, Roles-based Security, Personalization, Business Intelligence, and Syndication. Allaire Spectra, which runs on Windows NT and Solaris, is currently in beta. The product is expected to ship in Q4 1999. A bundled offering that includes servers, tools, training, consulting and support will be priced at approximately $100,000. Standard pricing for Allaire Spectra will be $7,495 per server and requires ColdFusion Enterprise Application Server. www.allaire.com
Lotus Development Corp. and Novell Inc. announced that they have created a single log-on solution using Novell Directory Services (NDS) for the Lotus Domino servers and the Lotus Notes client. With Novell Single Sign-on, a user need only log onto a computer network once with a single NDS password to access all enterprise applications, regardless of the network platforms on which those applications reside. Novell Single Sign-on simplifies the end-user computing experience by eliminating the need for users to remember and input multiple passwords. It also can help companies save money by simplifying password management processes and reducing the number of password-related help desk calls. In addition to Notes R4.6 and Notes R5 users, the Lotus Domino R5 servers also can authenticate Web browser-based users of NDS, using LDAP as the authentication protocol. Novell Single Sign-on is available from Novell to customers of Novell NetWare 5. www.novell.com, www.lotus.com
The docSpace Company announced the newest addition to its docSpace Service Bureau Program (dSB) – PDQ.net, Inc. The largest full-service Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Houston, Texas, PDQ.net will offer co-branded docSpace carrier class file services to its clients, including several Fortune 500 corporations. The docSpace services will enable secure business-to-business communication for PDQ.net’s clients by offering mobility, collaboration tools, and a replacement for services like FedEx and UPS without requiring any software. PDQ.net will offer co-branded versions of docSpace Express (Web courier) and docSpace Drive (virtual hard drive). The services will first be available through MyPDQ.net, the company’s new consumer portal site. PDQ.net is also targeting business customers with docSpace by offering it in conjunction with their DSL high speed Internet access services. www.docSpace.com, www.pdq.net
The Data Mining Group (DMG) announced the first version of an XML-based open standard for defining predictive models. The Predictive Modeling Markup Language (PMML) provides a quick and easy way for companies to define predictive models and share models between compliant vendors’ applications. The founding consortium companies include: Magnify, Chicago; SPSS Inc., Chicago; Angoss Software Corp., Toronto; NCR Corp., Dayton, Ohio; and the National Center for Data Mining (NCDM) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). DMG founders invite other vendors and interested parties to participate in the proposed W3C standards initiative. First developed by NCDM and then revised and enhanced by the DMG, PMML is an XML-based language providing applications a vendor-independent method of defining models so that proprietary issues and incompatibilities are no longer a barrier to the exchange of models between applications. Predictive models express the patterns of information discovered in data mining, which companies then may use to develop specific strategies from which they can realize increased profitability. The Data Mining Group has applied for W3C working group classification. More information about PMML Version 1.0 and becoming PMML compliant is available from the Data Mining Group at www.dmg.org
The Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAGI) announced the formation of a Customer Interoperability Council, made up of end users, that will work with the OAGI’s existing software vendor membership to promote adoption of standards based application integration technology. The OAGI Interoperability Council will focus on development of industry specific Business Object Documents that define inter-application message formats and the deployment of enterprise integration frameworks based on the Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS), XML and transactions sent over middleware conforming to the newly released Open Applications Middleware API Specification (OAMAS). This approach will simplify integration of Financial, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Supply Chain application components both within the enterprise and among trading partners. The OAGI Interoperability Council is holding one of its regular meetings in Chicago on July 28-29, 1999. Interested parties are welcome to participate www.openapplications.org
OASIS has agreed to participate in a focus group on Internet Standardization and E-Commerce organized by the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The focus group, which will be held at the White House Conference Center in Washington, DC on Tuesday, July 20, will examine how changing technological, market, and legal environments are affecting the development of standards for the Internet, electronic commerce and knowledge management. www.oasis-open.org
The new version delivers enhanced XML support for improved connectivity and data integration, according to the Bedford-based developer. Version 3.1 also includes enhanced SQL functionality to deliver E-commerce applications that support vendor-specific queries on enterprise databases by ven-dors such as Oracle Corp. Currently, Progress has more than 2,000 Apptivity VARs. The company recently formed a program to enable its VARs to extend more than 5,000 packaged applications to the application service provider (ASP) model. With technology and services from Progress, numerous VARs are expected to embrace the ASP business model. www.progress.com
