Day: May 14, 2000

eXcelon Corporation introduced two new products that lower the barrier to participate in B2B eCommerce and create information-rich B2B portals. eXcelon’s B2B Portal Server is a new platform that automatically collects and publishes business content from anywhere in a partner network to a central, interactive eBusiness site. Xpress, part of the eXcelon B2B Integration Server product family, is new B2B technology that quickly connects an organization to thousands of partners to create cross-organization business processes that increase revenue, improve operational efficiency and allow end-to-end visibility and control of business operations. To provide a central location for products, services and information stored in a partner network, organizations can deploy eXcelon’s new B2B Portal Server. The Portal Server aggregates, manages and publishes content from the partner network to create highly interactive, personalized eBusiness sites that connect partners to live business information. Highly customizable, the Portal Server enables organizations to create a central, customizable location for viewing anything from product catalogs to more industry-specific content such as insurance policies and financial records. Based on XML technology, the Portal Server quickly integrates with a B2B network, providing a central viewing point for critical business data. With its data aggregation, search and personalization capabilities, users across the entire partner network gain increased efficiency, the means to make better business decisions and the ability to collaborate with partners all over the world. By providing partners with multiple levels of integration with the hub organization, eXcelon Xpress enables partners of all sizes and technical ability to integrate with a partner network with little or no investment in additional technology. When installed at the hub organization, as part of eXcelon’s B2B Integration Server, Xpress enables partners to log into the partner network with only a browser or handheld device. With the browser, partners can submit sales forecasts, initiate purchase orders and participate in any cross-business processes defined by the partner network. This option requires no technology investment from partners. For partners that would like to increase their level of integration and automation with the hub organization, Xpress can be installed on the partner side. eXcelon Xpress and the B2B Portal Server are available now for Windows NT and Solaris. The B2BPS is expected to be available for AIX and HP-UX in Q2 2000. www.exceloncorp.com

SoftLock.com, Inc. announced that it has acquired Chili Pepper, Inc., an advertising agency and consulting firm. The acquisition enables SoftLock.com to leverage Chili Pepper’s online marketing expertise to further expand SoftLock.com’s existing eMerchandising capabilities. SoftLock.com will capitalize on Chili Pepper’s expertise in strategic brand consulting, direct marketing, consumer research, media buying and creative services, intensifying SoftLock.com’s position as a market maker for premium content. The integration of Chili Pepper’s marketing services with SoftLock.com’s existing services, digital rights management and commerce-enabled distribution, positions SoftLock.com to be a comprehensive solution for publishers of premium content. Packaging, positioning and promoting digital goods online requires highly targeted direct marketing expertise. The SoftLock.com market making approach allows customers to merchandise their premium digital goods to highly targeted consumer segments quickly and efficiently. SoftLock.com’s patented combination of technology and services provide a comprehensive solution to marketing valuable digital goods, combining content security, targeted content merchandising and a complete multi-channel eCommerce distribution system. The combination of SoftLock.com and Chili Pepper teams will result in a strategic fusion that increases the bandwidth of the total organization and further differentiates SoftLock.com as a market maker for premium content versus its technology-based, security-focused competitors. www.softlock.com