Liaison Technology released Dexter DE, a software solution that enables companies to succeed in B2B online commerce by enriching the information exchanged between buyer and seller. All enterprises participating in online commerce can benefit from Dexter DE. Companies building an online marketplace use Dexter DE to collect content from supplier Web sites. Sellers of products or services use Dexter DE to obtain descriptive content from their intranet and partner Web sites. Buyers in an online market use Dexter DE to aggregate online product and price information to create custom procurement catalogs. Dexter DE is based on Liaison’s Adaptive Content Recognition technology. Dexter DE harvests content from Web pages that change frequently. The software can be trained to gather any content from unlimited sites and pages. In addition, Dexter DE requires no programming to establish or maintain the data feeds. Users train Dexter DE by surfing to a’ URL and selecting the content to be collected. Once the software is trained to recognize the target content, Dexter DE will automatically gather similar content from other product pages in that site. Even if the target Web page changes, Dexter DE continues to locate the specified content. Dexter DE can automatically harvest content as often as necessary to keep information current. In addition, Dexter DE provides a sophisticated data normalization or rationalization function via the inverse Thesaurus engine. This feature helps ensure that only accurate and consistent data is being loaded into the marketplace’s database. When Dexter DE executes, it downloads the selected pages from the targeted Web sites, parses the required content, rationalizes the data for consistency, and loads the data into any ‘database. XML, flat file and API data interfaces are supported. Dexter DE is available immediately direct from Liaison Technology. The software is licensed on an annual lease basis. The costs vary depending on number of servers and clients required. Dexter DE is compatible with all databases and e-commerce platforms. The minimum server requirements for Dexter DE are: Pentium II 450 MHz processor; 128 MB RAM, 20MB disk space for Dexter DE and 250MB for data capture and audit logs; Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP4; Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0; and minimum 128KB per second Internet connection. www.liaison.com
Month: April 2000 (Page 2 of 6)
Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of the latest version of the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) specification on the MSDN developer program Web site. SOAP is an open standards-based interoperability protocol that uses XML to provide a common messaging format to link together any applications and services anywhere on the Internet. This new version extends SOAP’s asynchronous messaging capabilities and enables support for the Internet protocols SMTP, FTP and TCP/IP in addition to existing support for HTTP. These new capabilities further bolster SOAP’s ability to integrate heterogeneous applications within the enterprise or diverse trading partners across the Internet. The specification was initially developed by DevelopMentor Inc., Microsoft and UserLand Software Inc. IBM Corp. and Lotus Development Corp. join as authors with version 1.1. The latest version has industry support from companies such as ActiveState Tool Corp., Ariba Inc., BORN Information Services Inc., Commerce One Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., DevelopMentor Inc., Extensibility Inc., IBM, IONA Technologies PLC, Intel Corp., Lotus Development Corp., ObjectSpace Inc., Rogue Wave Software Inc., Scriptics Corp., Secret Labs AB, UserLand Software and Zveno Pty. Ltd. The SOAP specification provides a common mechanism for integrating services on the Internet and/or intranet regardless of operating system, object model or programming language. Through its reliance on XML and HTTP, SOAP enables any new or existing applications to communicate with one another. By supporting SOAP, Web sites can become Web services that are accessible programmatically without requiring human initiation or intermediation. With a common integration fabric for direct interaction between software connected to the Internet, new opportunities abound in aggregation, federation and integration of services and devices located anywhere on the Internet. http://msdn.microsoft.com
netLibrary announced a new initiative to market digital libraries, consisting of eBooks and other electronic information resources, to corporations. netLibrary is capable of providing corporations with an extensive library of digital content by employing an eBook development and distribution platform it has built during the past 20 months in the academic library market and by drawing from a collection of more than 18,000 titles from 200 publishers. Initial targets for netLibrary’s corporate library offering include corporations with existing physical and digital libraries, corporations with advanced training programs and corporate universities, and organizations with a strong knowledge-management orientation. netLibrary is offering its corporate library solution to public and private companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies. netLibrary’s corporate library content includes thousands of business and technology titles. Subject area headings in the business collection include finance and banking, human resources, international business, management, sales, and eCommerce. Technology titles include computer engineering and hardware, databases, enterprise management, networking, operating systems, programming, and Web development. Corporate library customers can work with netLibrary and publishers to build customized digital libraries covering specialized areas of knowledge such as science and engineering, risk management, and finance. At the customer’s discretion, intranet/extranet access to digital library resources can be made available to employees, clients, and suppliers. In the future, netLibrary plans to enhance its corporate library solution to include components such as executive information services, PDA versions of newspapers and magazines through netLibrary’s peanutpress.com handheld division, and periodicals and journals offered through netLibrary’s alliance with EBSCO Publishing. Information resources generated in-house can be combined with the digital library for seamless searching and retrieval. www.netLibrary.com
Softshare announced the immediate availability of Softshare Athena. Named after the goddess of commerce, Softshare Athena is a Web-based EDI/XML solution. From Athena, businesses can view, print, delete or, if their trading partner requires it, respond to incoming EDI documents. In addition, Athena automatically creates 997 functional acknowledgments on the user’s behalf whenever an incoming document is printed or viewed. Businesses can manage more than one trading-partner relationship under a Softshare Athena account. With subscriptions starting at $300 per year, Softshare Athena requires only an ISP and browser. For an interactive look at Softshare Athena see www.softshare.com/athena
EDGAR Online and PricewaterhouseCoopers announced they have signed an agreement that will give EDGAR Online the exclusive right to market the XML-based output of the popular EDGARSCAN software developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. EDGARSCAN, which is currently available only via the PricewaterhouseCoopers Web site, is technology for parsing financial data from SEC documents filed by public companies. EDGARSCAN, for which PricewaterhouseCoopers has sought patent protection, is used by accountants, financial analysts, and other professionals to extract and analyze income statement, balance sheet and cash flow data from EDGAR documents. The agreement will enable EDGAR Online to create XML data feeds using EDGARSCAN and to sell the feeds directly to high volume users who want to use this data on their Intranets and for internal analytics. EDGAR Online and PricewaterhouseCoopers anticipate their agreement will be extended to include data using the XBRL (extensible business reporting language) standard for online financial reporting recently introduced by a consortium of more than 30 companies and financial organizations. www.edgar-online.com/news, www.pwcglobal.com
Quark Inc. announced the release of avenue.quark, which will allow millions of QuarkXPress users to free their content for re-use. Avenue.quark is Xtensions software that allows users to richly describe and export their content in XML format, thereby maximizing the value of their editorial assets and facilitating re-use in multiple media. Avenue.quark also introduces the idea of content re-use to QuarkXPress by allowing users to create templates with formatted placeholders for XML content. Publishers can create a one-time deployment of the content or retain a dynamic link between the QuarkXPress template and the XML content. Avenue.quark integrates with the growing suite of Quark products and other publishing systems via XTensions technology. Avenue.quark ships with the StreetPost QuarkXTensions module, which allows users to post XML documents directly to Vignette StoryServer 4 and other Web application servers. Quark is also developing XTensions software for avenue.quark to check in content directly to Quark Digital Media System (QuarkDMS), and to troubleshoot document formatting and tagging rules. Quark plans to make these XTensions freely available to all avenue.quark customers as they are released. Avenue.quark for Mac OS is available in the U.S. via electronic software distribution (ESD) for $199.00 from eMacsoftware.com (www.emacsoftware.com). Both Windows and Mac OS versions will be available directly from Quark and distributors within the next thirty days. Avenue.quark will be available worldwide later this summer. Quark also announced a software bundling agreement with Extensibility Inc. With the purchase of avenue.quark customers will receive a trial version of XML Authority, an XML schema creation, conversion, and management solution. www.quark.com
ActionPoint, Inc., formerly Input Software, Inc., unveiled its ActionPoint Interaction Management System for Global 1000 organizations and net marketplaces. A high performance e-commerce software suite, the ActionPoint System simplifies the wide range of complex Web interactions — interactions between people and e-commerce systems — needed to conduct business on-line. It then delivers validated and formatted content to enterprise or B2B process automation systems, triggering real-time fulfillment processes. The ActionPoint System enables e-businesses to build dynamic and intelligent Web interfaces for action points. Action points include generating requests for quotes, bid responses, or purchase orders; configuring complex products; or applying for credit cards, mortgage loans or life insurance on line. The ActionPoint Interaction Management System consists of three complementary software products: ActionPoint Dialog Server – an XML-based product that allows organizations to rapidly deploy and easily maintain dynamic, personalized Web interactions at all action points needed to consummate end-to-end business on the Internet. (The Dialog Server was previously announced under the project name DynamicInput.); ActionPoint Enterprise Server – a customizable and scalable system for post-session processing and integration with enterprise systems; and InputAccel – ActionPoint’s capture system. The ActionPoint Interaction Management System will run under Windows NT and UNIX. The ActionPoint Interaction Management System will be available as separate components or as an entire solution suite in 3Q 2000. Full system pricing begins at $150,000. www.actionpoint.com
Inprise/Borland announced the immediate availability of Borland MIDAS 3, middleware technology and components for rapidly building Delphi and C++ Builder Internet applications. Now supporting XML and Dynamic HTML, MIDAS 3 substantially increases the scalability and flexibility of large-scale Internet applications. Inprise/Borland also announced modified MIDAS licensing that will now allow small- to medium-sized businesses to gain the same advantages as large corporations as they extend their businesses to the Internet. MIDAS 3 simplifies and speeds up the development, integration, and deployment of thin-client, distributed Internet applications. It speeds data access across all application tiers from the client to the database server through fast remote-data access and intelligent data synchronization, which together optimize network bandwidth. Solutions built with MIDAS can take advantage of its support for e-commerce standards including CORBA, COM/MTS, XML and dynamic HTML. This ensures application interoperability and extensibility. MIDAS will support Linux when Inprise/Borland’s Project Kylix ships later this year. Project Kylix is a Linux component based development environment for two-way visual development of graphical user interface, Internet, database, and server applications. Free development licenses of MIDAS are included with Inprise/Borland’s application development tools, Borland Delphi and C++Builder Enterprise. MIDAS server deployment is priced using a per-server license scheme. MIDAS 3 server deployment licenses with unlimited client access are available now directly from Inprise/Borland for $299.95. This price is in U.S. dollars and applies only in the United States. International customers should contact their local Inprise/Borland offices, distributors, or representatives. www.borland.com
