Category: Marketing & e-commerce (Page 63 of 77)

Bidcom, Inc. announced that the company has been elected to lead the Construction/Project Management working group, one of six such groups that make up the aecXML Project. Larry Chen, chief technology officer at Bidcom, will chair the group on Bidcom’s behalf. The aecXML Project www.aecxml.org is a building industry consortium founded by Bentley Systems in August 1999 to standardize the definition and exchange of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) data. Based on XML, aecXML will use an XML schema to describe the information that is routinely exchanged between building industry professionals. Using this schema, industry companies will be able to share project information and conduct e-commerce across all software applications. More than 450 organizations worldwide are participating in the aecXML project. In addition to Construction/Project Management, aecXML working groups address the following areas: Design/Estimating/Scheduling/Cost Management, Product Catalogs, Procurement, Operations/Maintenance/Facility, Management, and Plant. aecXML is a framework for using XML in the architectural, engineering and construction industries. It includes an XML schema to describe information specific to the information exchanges between participants involved in designing, constructing and operating buildings, plants, infrastructure and facilities. The various software applications used by these participants can transfer messages formatted according to the aecXML schema to coordinate and synchronize related project information. In addition, a standard aecXML specification will facilitate e-commerce between suppliers and purchasers of equipment, materials, supplies, parts and services based on that same technical information. www.aecxml.org, www.bidcom.com

UniCapital Corporation announced it has published an XML schema on Microsoft’s BizTalk Web site that will enable commercial equipment leasing companies to exchange invoices with customers over the Internet. UniCapital expects that this schema will facilitate e-commerce in the $220 billion equipment leasing industry by providing companies with a universally compatible program for filing invoices electronically. By developing a standard e-commerce language for invoicing, UniCapital expects its schema to result in cost savings and increased operating efficiencies for equipment leasing companies and their customers. www.unicapitalcorp.com

SoftLock.com, Inc. announced it’s active role in the securing, marketing, and selling of eBooks across the Internet. SoftLock.com’s expansive collection of over 100 eBooks are available in topics ranging from business and finance to sports and travel, including fiction, nonfiction and reference from authors such as Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf. SoftLock.com’s initial group of eBook publishers include AIL/New Media Publishing, Arrose Enterprises, Best Solutions, Boson Books, Clear Springs Press, Exemplary/OmniMedia Digital Publishing, Invisible Path Publishing, LifeQuest, Novelwriter.com, Roger White Associates, and John Zakour Publishing. EBooks can now be sampled, instantly purchased and passed from one interested reader to another. EBook publishers can be secure in the knowledge that their intellectual property will not be pirated, because SoftLock.com’s patented system builds copyright protection right into the eBook. When passed-along, the document automatically re-locks itself, allowing the Consumer to view the enticing sample of the eBook. The document will not re-open until the Consumer purchases the full eBook, and will once again automatically re-lock when that Consumer finds the eBook compelling enough to pass along. This complete, turnkey e-commerce solution allows publishers to profit from the widespread electronic distribution of their secured eBooks. www.softlock.com.

The HR-XML Consortium announced that more than 25 organizations have endorsed an XML framework designed to enable web-based workforce management and recruiting services. Based on open, business-to-business e-commerce models, these next- generation workforce management and recruiting services promise to deliver employers greater ROI for their staffing expenditures, while giving HR and staffing vendors new opportunities for growth and profit. The HR-XML Consortium is a newly formed non-profit group dedicated to the development and promotion of standardized human-resources-related XML vocabularies for enabling business-to-business e-commerce and the automation of inter-company exchanges of human resources data. Staffing and Recruiting is the first of many HR areas that the HR-XML Consortium will standardize. www.icarian.com

fourthchannel customers can now easily link the Internet company’s e-commerce selling solutions to dozens of front- and back-office applications, thanks to a strategic partnership with Oberon Software Inc.. The new arrangement brings together fourthchannel, inc. with Oberon Software Inc. to provide a complete Internet Business Environment (IBE) for mid-market manufacturers and distributors. Oberon’s e-Enterprise Integration Platform provides the means for fast and complete integration with numerous front- and back-office applications and information-sharing technologies. This includes enterprise applications such as J.D. Edwards, Ariba, Manugistics, SAP, Oracle, Siebel, Peoplesoft , and Baan , as well as technologies such as IBM’s MQSeries and XML, without costly and time-intensive custom programming. Integration between fourthchannel Release 2.0 and Oberon’s e-Enterprise integration platform will be available in the first quarter of 2000 through fourthchannel’s existing sales channels. www.oberon.com, www.fourthchannel.com

A “dialect” of XML specifically designed to let on-line businesses and service providers manage the delivery of services to their customers across extranets has been developed by Manage.Com. The new manageXML language enables users of Manage.Com’s FrontLine e.M eBusiness management software to create a set of document-like descriptions of managed objects, including Internet infrastructure devices, transactions and business processes. The documents, which establish inter-object relationships and dependencies, supply FrontLine e.M with the basis for provisioning services and taking corrective action. manageXML can model not only physical objects but also logical entities. This is essential in representing logical objects such as managed services, for example, and modeling eCommerce sessions that simulate a user’s progress through a series of transactions. manageXML has four major components: object data sources, object definitions, service management logic and service control panels. manageXML Included with manageXML is an Authoring Kit that provides software tools, templates, examples and documentation designed to facilitate the creation, validation and testing of manageXML documents. Key components of the kit include manageXML authoring tools, which help vendors and integrators wishing to build new manageXML documents using previously defined vendor-specific documents or transfer managed definitions originally created as SNMP MIBs; the manageXML static validator, which ensures correct syntax and format of documents created in manageXML; and a manageXML object validator, which enables correct formation of manageXML documents. manageXML and the manageXML Authoring Kit are available free of charge to users of Manage.Com’s FrontLine e.M software. In addition, an initial set of manageXML documents, developed by Manage.Com, is available now for six managed objects: Windows NT, IIS, SQLServer, Microsoft Exchange, MIB II and the Cisco 2500/7000 routers. A second set of documents, to be available in January, will cover HTTP transactions, UNIX, Oracle, Apache, Netscape Enterprise Server, Check Point Firewall-1, POP3, Cisco Catalyst 5000 and Cisco PIX Firewall. www.manage.com

Communication Intelligence Corporation (“CIC”) announced that it released a new version of its e-signature solution with support for Palm handheld devices. Sign-it 2.0 provides enterprise customers with a solution for secure electronic document approval and on-line transactions within Adobe Acrobat 4.0 for applications such as document workflow, contract execution, and e-commerce. CIC has seen a trend toward electronic service providers subsidizing the device costs to purchasers of their services, similar to the current cellular phone industry. Some financial institutions and on-line providers may soon be providing handheld devices with Internet access, such as the Palm VII wireless organizer, to their customers to encourage an increase in transactions while offering them the convenience of mobile access. Sign-it 2.0 will offer a cost effective and reliable means to both secure and authorize transactions and documents electronically whether in the enterprise or a mobile environment. www.cic.com

webMethods, Inc. and KPMG LLP announced a joint software and services solution for implementing B2B e-commerce initiatives based on the RosettaNet standards. RosettaNet’s primary goal is to streamline the information technology supply chain and to improve the flow of critical information allowing information technology supply chain partners to fully leverage e-commerce applications and the Internet as a B2B e-commerce tool. This joint offering is specifically designed to address the needs of RosettaNet’s key constituents