POET Software announced the release of the POET eCatalog Suite-Service Provider Edition (eCS-SP). The new application, which began shipping at the end of June, is a multi-supplier solution designed specifically for ASPs and eMarketmakers. POET eCS-SP enables eMarketmakers and ASPs to provide suppliers with a user-friendly application for aggregating, cleansing and customizing their eCatalog content, using no more than a browser. The resulting eCatalogs, which are customized for each buyer or eMarketplace, are then distributed in any format, XML or legacy. This enables eMarketmakers to immediately connect thousands of suppliers and build instant liquidity for their eMarketplace. Until now, supplier access to eMarketplaces has required a significant investment creating a barrier to adoption for small- and medium-sized suppliers. POET eCS Service-Provider Edition lowers these barriers to entry, enabling small suppliers to compete fairly with the very largest suppliers. POET eCS-SP is an application that suppliers utilize through a Web browser. Each supplier logs into the system and is presented with a secure work environment where they manage their catalog data, pricing and buyer information. This information is then combined to create custom catalogs that are tailored to the needs of each buyer or eMarketplace. This supplier self-service model is analogous to the ATMs employed by banks. The consensus among industry analysts is that the growth and ROI projected for eProcurement solutions and eMarketplaces is being constrained by a dearth of eCatalog content. POET eCS-SP solves this problem by providing “instant enablement” by any supplier with a Web browser. POET eCS-SP enables the supplier and eMarketplace to share responsibilities based on their needs and their level of sophistication. For example, some suppliers may simply upload a catalog. While others may choose to create cleansing rules, map to various commodity codes, build sophisticated pricing schemes and more. Similarly, eMarketplaces can use POET eCS-SP to create and schedule cleansing rules across their suppliers to normalize data, cleanse individual supplier eCatalogs and more. POET eCS-SP provides the power, flexibility and ease-of-use necessary to support this sharing of responsibilities between eMarketplaces and suppliers. For ASPs, POET eCS-SP provides an attractive lure for new customers, and a supplemental revenue stream from existing clients. With the Fortune 1000 eProcurement implementations taking root, and B2B eMarketplaces gaining acceptance, the pressure on lower and middle tier suppliers to become eCatalog-enabled will continue to rise.
Category: Content technology news (Page 494 of 627)
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netLibrary Inc. announced the availability of the netLibrary eBook Reader, a free personal software application that users can download to their PCs to read eBooks without being connected to the Internet. netLibrary distributes full-length digital versions of publishers’ books that can be searched, previewed, and accessed over the Internet. Currently, patrons of more than 1,000 academic, K-12, corporate, and public libraries around the world have access to eBooks through netLibrary. The netLibrary eBook Reader enables those library patrons to check out eBooks from their library’s eBook collection, download them to their PCs, and read them offline. This capability is paired with netLibrary’s online eBook reading solution, which enables searching, previewing, and checking out eBooks through a Web browser and live Internet connection. netLibrary also is working to make its publishers’ eBooks available through additional eBook reading platforms such as the Glassbook readers for PCs and the Peanut Reader for Palm and Windows CE handheld computers. The netLibrary eBook Reader(TM) is available now as a free download from the netLibrary Web site. The software application requires approximately 5.5 megabytes of hard disc space, and takes about 20 minutes to download on a 56k modem. The hardware requirements for running the netLibrary eBook Reader are a Pentium 100 or equivalent processor, 32 megabytes of RAM, and 20 megabytes of free hard disk space, and Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 or greater. www.netLibrary.com
Cell Network and VIOMA AB are investing jointly in VIOMA’s Content Manager–a new concept for managing and structuring information, design and function in complex web and mobile solutions. Cell Network will be responsible for consultancy work to implement and integrate business solutions based on VIOMA’s products. VIOMA is a Swedish software company that develops dynamic, flexible Content Management solutions and mobile Internet platforms for companies and organizations. VIOMA’s main product is VIOMA Content Manager, which gives companies and organizations the possibility of assembling, structuring and controlling information of many different formats in one database. The program is based entirely on XML and Java technology. The system is independent of the customer’s graphic design and business logic, the format of the content and the distribution media, and gives the customer complete control over their information management. www.bit.se
Oracle Corp. announced the pending availability of Oracle8i Release 3, the third generation of their Internet database. The new release will incorporate the latest Java and XML technologies as well as advanced, triple Data Encryption Standard (Triple DES). The combination of Oracle8i Release 3, Oracle Internet Application Server 8i (Oracle iAS) and Oracle Internet Developer Suite comprise the next generation of the Oracle Internet Platform, Oracle’s complete platform for Internet computing. The Oracle Internet Platform-including virtually all the technology software needed to become an e-business-is available today. With Oracle8i Release 3, Oracle has added: Common Java and XML Services between Oracle8i Release 3 and Oracle Internet Application Server 8i; Oracle8i (JVM) Java Virtual Machine capabilities across server tiers including common EJB support for Entity Beans. Java Servlets and JavaServer Pages; Java 2 Enterprise Edition APIs includes Java Messaging Services (Java JMS), Java Transaction Services (JTS) and JDBC. Oracle8i JVM Accelerator provides native compiled Java code for greatly enhanced Java performance. XML SQL Utility makes reading and writing XML documents in their native formats easier than ever before. Oracle8i Release 3 also allows relational data to be searched, queried and retained in its original XML format. Oracle plans to make Oracle8i Release 3 available in Summer 2000. At that time, Oracle8i Release, both Standard and Enterprise Edition, will come bundled with business-to-business workflow and standard management packs free-of-charge. These former options to the database were previously priced and sold separately. www.oracle.com
Microsoft Corp. and Interwoven Inc. announced the beta release of Content Express for Microsoft Commerce Server 2000. Microsoft and Interwoven worked together on Content Express, which is designed to enable business users to easily create and manage content for e-commerce solutions built using Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 and the Microsoft Windows DNA 2000 platform. In a related announcement, Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 beta release was announced today. Content Express software provides business users with easy-to-use content management functionality and is integrated with the Commerce Server Business Desk management application. Business users can enter and modify content on the fly and kick-off predefined workflow approvals. Content Express also provides companies with the ability to perform whole site versioning and rollback. Together, Content Express and Commerce Server 2000 enable organizations to significantly reduce both time and costs for Web-site development and management. Businesses that adopt Content Express and need to further scale their Web operations will be able to upgrade to Interwoven TeamSite, Interwoven’s enterprise-class content-management solution. TeamSite provides scalability by enabling the following: empowering technical developers in addition to business contributors; managing sophisticated Web operations including complex workflows; and integrating diverse Web assets such as application code, XML and streaming video and audio. Interwoven TeamSite is available for the Windows 2000 and Windows NT operating systems. www.interwoven.com, www.microsoft.com
BroadVision, Inc. introduced BroadVision One-To-One Publishing, a new offering for next-generation content management. One-To-One Publishing combines BroadVision One-To-One e-commerce applications with a content management solution to provide a structured, and convenient publishing solution for a wide range of media, including Web, wireless, and print. This introduction marks the completion of the marriage between BroadVision One-To-One Enterprise and Interleaf’s XML-based content management tools. The new package represents BroadVision’s integration of XML-based capabilities to its e-commerce application suite and the fruition of its acquisition of Interleaf in April of this year. By storing written and graphical content in a central repository as XML, BroadVision One-To-One Publishing provides personalization of this information for a specific audience, purpose, medium or device. Adding this new offering to its enterprise application suite meets current customer demand to deploy and customize business information and prepares for the near-term need for content delivery to wireless devices. BroadVision One-To-One Publishing transforms static business information into dynamic, structured and reusable content, thereby increasing timeliness and reducing cost. The One-To-One Publishing customer will create new content and edit existing content using familiar applications such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Once created, this information can be broken down into manageable pieces so that multiple users working on separate contributions can combine sections and publish to one Web site, printed document or other medium. The content can also be versioned, meaning that new and old versions of information can coexist for reference and other purposes. Key Features of BroadVision One-To-One Publishing include the capacity to: Create complex content with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint which enables easy translation for use with Web, wireless and print for anytime, anywhere delivery without IT support; Manage the publishing process with graphical workflow administration; Optimize content for multiple touch points; and Re-use and re-purpose content by recombining information in different ways to tailor to additional audiences. One-To-One Publishing will be available in August 2000. www.broadvision.com
Kinecta Corporation Worldweb.net announced a joint partnership to offer content providers a fully integrated solution to manage and syndicate content in order to reach broader e-business audiences. As part of the agreement, Worldweb.net will integrate the ICE-based Kinecta Interact syndication platform into the company’s Expressroom I/O content management system. The two companies will also provide joint sales product training and co-branding of the Kinecta Interact platform to Worldweb.net customers. Worldweb.net and Kinecta worked together to tightly integrate the Expressroom I/O and Kinecta Interact solutions. This will enable any customer of Expressroom I/O to utilize the syndication components and quickly ramp up their content distribution networks. As a result, customers can immediately realize the benefits of content syndication.
Microsoft Corp. released a draft of the Microsoft BizTalk Framework version 2.0. This newest version of the BizTalk Framework has been redefined to be SOAP 1.1 compliant, thereby allowing BizTalk Framework XML documents to travel over a network in the form of SOAP messages. In addition, version 2.0 has been extended to include specifications for reliable server-to-server messaging, guaranteeing exactly-once delivery of business documents over the Internet. Multi-Part MIME encoding guidelines also have been added to the framework to support the inclusion of one or more non-XML attachments within a BizTalk message. Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 will support BizTalk Framework 2.0 as the protocol for reliable interoperability over the Internet. The BizTalk Framework takes advantage of XML and MIME to provide the specifications for XML-based integration within and between organizations. The support for the SOAP 1.1 specification, which was recently submitted to and acknowledged by W3C, will allow developers to create applications and services that can be more easily integrated, independent of operating system, programming model or programming language. The new reliable messaging capabilities defined in BizTalk Framework 2.0 allow organizations to reliably transmit information via the Internet using standard transport protocols such as HTTP and SMTP. The inclusion of support for Multi-Part MIME, an alternative to inline encoding of binary information, provides guidelines for encoding and decoding of one or more non-XML attachments within a BizTalk XML message. The BizTalk Framework 2.0 specification is available for review at www.microsoft.com/biztalk
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