Category: Marketing & e-commerce (Page 62 of 79)

Through the ACORD standards-setting process, both Property/Casualty and Life subcommittees have voted to adopt the first insurance industry standard XML transactions. Called ACORD XML for P&C Insurance and ACORD XML for Life Insurance, the transaction standards adopted have been developed through a cooperative process involving hundreds of organizations from the insurance and related financial services industries. ACORD XML is based on existing ACORD standards, thereby easing migration to XML, a cross-industry e-commerce standard for business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions. The ACORD XML initiatives focus on defining a set of standards detailing interfaces, data, and error processing relevant to insurance business functions. These standards enable real-time exchange of information and integration of systems used in day-to-day operations for processing insurance. They enable insurance carriers to face the challenge of providing a single set of views or interfaces into their supporting back-end systems. The P&C adoption includes several XML business messages that enable the real-time exchange of quote and application transactions for personal and commercial lines of insurance over the Internet. Included in the adoption is the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) specification, which provides a standard framework architecture to ensure interoperability among multiple trading partners using IFX. The ACORD P&C Transaction Review Board has provided business and technical expertise from organizations such as PMSC, The Hartford, AMS, Travelers, Microsoft, SAFECO, IVANS, National Grange Mutual, Applied Systems, Ontos, and Symmetry Technology Labs. Currently several other working groups are developing additional transactions for use in the insurance industry and in dealing with trading partners. www.acord.org

OnDisplay, Inc. announced that it will deliver a free business-to-business XML server software for any organization that needs to establish secure, guaranteed exchange with online trading partners. Called XML Connect, the new product enables the exchange of XML business documents — such as purchase orders, invoices, and order confirmations — seamlessly and securely with any other XML Connect user, as well as with users of OnDisplay’s CenterStage eBizXchange product. OnDisplay believes that by seeding the market with XML Connect, the company will greatly accelerate the adoption of XML and B2B commerce. Shipping now in limited partner release, XML Connect will be generally available on March 30, 2000, as a free download from the XML Connect web site (www.xmlconnect.net) and from OnDisplay’s web site. The product will include free online support. The new XML server will support all of the XML schemas on the market. XML Connect also allows B2B e-commerce participants to set up secure connections with their trading partners without the need to purchase and install proprietary software on both ends of the trading partner connection. The new XML Connect product provides guaranteed, secure, real-time delivery of business documents over the Internet. It consists of an XML-based messaging server with an open, published API and supporting documentation. Customers who deploy XML Connect will be able to upgrade their implementations to OnDisplay’s CenterStage eBizXchange easily and seamlessly. CenterStage eBizXchange provides scalable B2B integration capabilities for organizations that need to rapidly connect with hundreds or thousands of trading partners simultaneously. Leveraging the CenterStage 4 platform for “many to many, any to any” B2B integration, CenterStage eBizXchange provides: www.ondisplay.com

HOTPerl announced the release of GhostLINK, a comprehensive search engine positioning application designed specifically for eCommerce websites. The typical eCommerce website contains a home page, half a dozen information pages, and dozens of catalog pages displaying the stores merchandise. The challenge faced by he eCommerce webmaster is that 90% of the websites content is produced “on-the-fly” by the eCommerce shopping cart as visitors navigate the website. Most major search engines are not very reliable when indexing websites which are designed to be operated “on-the-fly” as these advanced programming techniques generally place navigational control within the domain of the eCommerce program and do not use conventional hyper-text links which the search engine spiders are able to follow. GhostLINK’s automatic search engine positioning on-line application individually registers every entry webpage and entry portal on your website with all the major search engines. The Catalog Wizard also automatically creates special portals that guide customers to your merchandise. www.hotperl.com

SoftLock.com, Inc. announced SoftLock PagePortals, thematic, customized bundles of highly respected content from leading publishers of business and financial information. This product automatically provides complete web storefronts for SoftLock Affiliates, enabling them to sell valued content. SoftLock PagePortals are available immediately, and can be instantly deployed by any organization seeking to enhance their Web site with premium content that will pay them whenever content is sold. SoftLock PagePortals are the latest eMerchandising initiative of SoftLock.com. The Company’s Brand Managers’ expertly craft bundles of valuable electronic documents and then place links to the SoftLock PagePortals in contextually appropriate locations throughout the Web. SoftLock Affiliates interested in more compelling content and increased revenue will benefit from the immediate ability to offer these sophisticated merchandising displays to their visitors, allowing them to browse through premium content and conduct point-of-purchase, e-commerce transactions. Visitors stay on the SoftLock Affiliate site throughout the entire process. SoftLock PagePortals are available immediately at www.market.softlock.com/sandp

fourthchannel, inc., announced a new version of its e-commerce solution, now offering new content management capabilities. The solution, formerly called fourthchannel, has been renamed “profitlaunch.” Along with the name change, a new Content Wizard has been added, which enables companies to personalize customer sites by adding internal and external content. The new version also includes improved customer service and marketing capabilities, making profitlaunch a complete and compelling e-commerce solution for the mid-market. profitlaunch’s Content Wizard is designed to help companies improve their customers’ Internet buying experience beyond providing a simple online catalog. The wizard makes it easy to add timely customer briefings or general industry information to a selling site. This new capability extends a site’s value to its customers and turns it into a “community site” where people come not only to place orders, but also to check industry news, trends and other items of interest. Accessed from within profitlaunch’s browser-based catalog management tool, the Content Wizard also has a customer personalization capability that enables individuals to choose content based on their unique needs. The wizard allows non-technical users to manage the content on their e-commerce sites easily adding, editing, or deleting Internet feeds and information. profitlaunch is available immediately. Pricing is based on the size and complexity of each company’s catalog and type of implementation. An ASP solution is available for companies that want fourthchannel to host and manage their Internet catalogs off-site. For companies that want to run the application internally, fourthchannel also offers a licensing option. www.fourthchannel.com

Commerce One, Inc. introduced a set of new XML technology tools delivered with Commerce One’s MarketSite Portal Solution 3.0. The new XML-based transaction platform enables heterogeneous systems to communicate and allows different portals to interoperate and connect to the Commerce One Global Trading Web. The comprehensive set of schema-based XML tools includes: Commerce One XML Commerce Connector (XCC), which provides all the components necessary for trading partners to integrate with Commerce One MarketSite; Schema for Object-Oriented XML (SOX), Commerce One’s default XML schema language used by MarketSite to define business documents; XML Common Business Library (xCBL) 2.0, a set of XML-based building blocks and a document framework that helps developers create business documents in Microsoft’s XDR schema language and Commerce One’s SOX; An initial set of 11 pre-defined XML-based business documents; and an XML Development Kit Pro (XDK Pro), for building extendable, document-based e-commerce applications. Commerce One’s XML technology and tools are included in MarketSite Portal Solution 3.0. In addition, xCBL and SOX may be downloaded free of charge at www.commerceone.com

Media-Bridge Technologies, Inc. introduced a full suite of solutions to help leading retailers, catalog businesses and media companies connect customers and brands across media. Media-Bridge enables businesses to manage content and promotions across virtually any media – print, the Web and e-mail. Powerful multi-channel marketing functionality combines with advanced content management and workflow to deliver the retail, catalog and publishing industries sophisticated one-to-one marketing capabilities and streamlined workflows regardless of chosen delivery media. Through partnerships with Vignette, Engage, Retek, Quebecor, Adobe Systems, Breakaway Solutions and other technology powerhouses, Media-Bridge is now able to meet a wide range of complex e-marketing and content management needs. Media-Bridge helps its customers create closed loop marketing environments with solutions that link legacy product and customer databases to Media-Bridge’s promotion planning and content management systems. Merchants, creative staffs, and publishers are able to create targeted promotional campaigns based on customer profile information to drive multiple media channels. Media-Bridge is a new company formed with the recently announced merger between Cascade Systems, Inc. and UK-based MidSystems Technology Inc. Media-Bridge offers three industry solutions that can be customized to specific customer requirements. The Media-Bridge retail industry solution is comprehensive, allowing retailers to create sophisticated media marketing plans, efficiently produce Web, e-mail and traditional print campaigns, and incorporate advanced e-commerce and e-publishing technology. The company’s catalog industry solution enables catalog businesses to develop targeted catalogs and personalized promotions for Internet and print by integrating product data and customer profile information. These tools achieve dynamic interactive marketing online – enabling businesses to realize the dream of one-to-one marketing. Key features of the Media-Bridge catalog industry solution include: Access to all relevant product data, customer and marketing data; Tools that support coordinating customer and product data with real-time collaboration between merchants and content creators; Support for whatever combination of delivery media will provide the best return while maintaining consistent branding; and an architecture ready to support future delivery media. Finally, Media-Bridge enables publishers to re-position their trusted brand in the interactive age and build strong relationships with their advertisers and customers. Media-Bridge gives publishers the ability to publish any time, for any target audience, on the Web or in print.www.media-bridge.com

Percussion Software’s XSpLit, a free utility for converting HTML into XML and XSL, is now available at www.percussion.com/xsplit. XSpLit meets the demands of organizations that need a simple and effective way of transforming thousands of Web-based HTML pages into XML for e-commerce and other applications. With XSpLit, developers can create the XML and XSL equivalents of their HTML pages without investing a lot of time learning XML or writing the pages by hand. This patent-pending technology is a key component of Percussion’s XML Data Server product, Rhythmyx, which dynamically serves structured data from relational databases into Web pages. Rhythmyx is one of the first products that makes use of XSL in a production environment and helps organizations benefit from XML today. Percussion XSpLit V1.0 is free for personal use. Companies wishing to license the product for bundled distribution with their offerings should contact Percussion Software for terms and conditions. The utility runs on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0. www.percussion.com