Bowstreet Software Inc. announced the commercial release of the Bowstreet Web Automation Factory, which breaks a critical e-commerce bottleneck by enabling companies to quickly deliver affordable, highly customized business-to-business Web sites for multiple customers and business partners. Bowstreet’s Web Automation Factory uses Directory Services Markup Language (DSML), an emerging e-commerce standard pioneered by Bowstreet and supported by IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and the Sun/Netscape Alliance. The Bowstreet Web Automation Factory, based on patent-pending technology, eliminates what many industry observers believe to be the biggest obstacle to the adoption of B2B e-commerce: the challenge of creating, maintaining and linking Web sites that provide many tightly integrated B2B connections, each customized for the unique needs of a different partner or customer. With today’s tools and technology, this process is prohibitively time consuming, complex and costly, often creating a large IT backlog for new B2B capabilities and stalling critical e-commerce initiatives. In the first half of 2000, Bowstreet will launch the Bowstreet Web Services Marketplace, a central exchange on the Internet where companies can freely create, publish, capture and trade Web Services they can incorporate into their own custom B2B Web sites. The Bowstreet Web Automation Factory 1.0 has been shipping to customers since September 1999. It is currently available through Bowstreet’s direct sales force and soon will be available through selected systems integrators. The product is sold on a subscription or perpetual license basis starting at around $250,000. Bowstreet also offers professional services to assist companies in developing, deploying and managing large Web programs. Bowstreet is giving away a version of the product, called the JumpStart Edition, to qualified businesses and software professionals at no cost. The JumpStart Edition will enable these users to create custom Web sites and publish Web services for a small number of partners on the Web. The Bowstreet Web Automation Factory runs on the Sun Solaris and Microsoft Windows NT server operating systems. It requires one of these directory services: Netscape Directory Server, IBM SecureWay or Novell NDS. The Bowstreet Web Automation Factory will also be available for Microsoft Active Directory and Oracle Directory Server. www.bowstreet.com
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Quest Software, Inc. announced the availability of Vista Plus 4.2, the latest version of Quest’s enterprise output management solution. Report Hyperlinking technology has been added to automatically create hyperlinks between reports based on common data values, allowing instant access and navigation to related information.
ObjectSpace announced the general availability of Dynamic XML (DXML) 1.0 for Java. DXML simplifies XML development by allowing developers to create, write, and read XML documents as if they were standard Java Beans. Without DXML, developers face a much larger learning curve and must master the intricacies of low-level XML technology like parsers, DTDs and the DOM. ObjectSpace has released DXML free-of-charge to Java developers. DXML is also integrated into Voyager 3.1, the latest release of ObjectSpace’s product for enterprise distributed computing. DXML is available for immediate download from the ObjectSpace Web site at www.objectspace.com
Intraspect Software, Inc. introduced c-business solutions for implementing collaborative business practices within and beyond the enterprise. With the latest release of its product, Intraspect Knowledge Server 3.0 (IKS 3.0), Intraspect offers a platform for developing and deploying c-business solutions for web-based collaboration. IKS 3.0 includes several new features that make it easier to use, more reliable and more scalable by a factor of four, accommodating thousands of users per server. IKS complements the full suite of Microsoft desktop products, including Microsoft Outlook, Office 2000, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0. The new release is easier to manage, and features enhanced personalization and customization. IKS 3.0 enables users to quickly personalize their environment by providing template engines that make customization even faster. In addition, IKS 3.0 leverages the latest standards – including Active Directory, LDAP, XML, WebDAV, and FTP – to allow integration into the enterprise. IKS 3.0 is expected to be available next month. The product will be available directly from Intraspect or through its channel partners. Pricing depends on the number of users. Enterprise deployments range from approximately $160-300 per user. IKS 3.0 can be purchased directly or licensed through subscription. www.intraspect.com
Extensibility Inc., announced XML Authority 1.1. XML Authority is currently used by of organizations to build XML based e-business vocabularies and grammars. The acceleration of e-business depends heavily on the use of XML schema to ensure the integrity of automated transactions and information interchange. XML Authority 1.1 is available for immediate download from Licensing is available for single-users ($99.95) and in multi-user x-Packs (5-user $449.95; 10-user $849.95; 50-user $3,995.00.) www.extensibility.com
ConneXt, Inc., a Seattle-based software company focused on delivering billing and customer care solutions to the utility market, announced that its ConsumerLinX solution is using and supporting XML for all needed application programming interfaces. www.connext.com
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
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
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