Category: Marketing & e-commerce (Page 67 of 77)

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

Ariba, Inc. Siebel Systems, Inc. announced an alliance that will integrate Ariba eCommerce solutions and the Ariba Network platform with Siebel Front Office Applications. As a result of the integration of Siebel Front Office Applications and the Ariba Network platform, organizations can access the Ariba cXML Internet Catalog and link to the supplier’s Web site to search for, configure and select products using Siebel eSales. Siebel eSales, a core component of the Siebel Front Office family, allows suppliers to deploy eCommerce sites that include a rich multimedia product catalog, on-line quotations, a product configurator to configure solutions, and the ability to take orders for business to businesses and business to consumer eCommerce over the web. The Siebel eSales application then transfers the selected products and services into the Ariba user’s electronic purchase requisition via cXML data feeds, which the Ariba application routes for approval according to the buying organization’s business rules. Once a customer places an order with a supplier, all of the specific information associated with that individual customer will be automatically captured in Siebel Front Office Applications and instantly shared across Siebel Systems’ sales, marketing and customer service information systems. Both companies plan to make Siebel Front Office Applications and Ariba eCommerce connectivity available to their customers in Q1 2000. www.ariba.com, www.siebel.com

VirtualSellers.com Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of Tag Activated Markup Enhancer (TAME), a proprietary programming language, as part of its purchase of assets of Clickshop, a Washington state-based software developer. TAME provides similar characteristics to Java, ASP, PERL and Javascript, and represents the core software used to create VirtualSellers.com’s shopping cart software. Ownership of the TAME programming language gives VirtualSellers.com incredible flexibility when creating customized e-commerce solutions for its clients. TAME’s natural interaction of XML enables VirtualSellers.com to pursue its long-term technology strategy. The company recognizes that XML is the new standard in long-distance data interchange, replacing EDI.One of the main benefits of the TAME programming language is that it is a platform independent, server side application language that will maximize data transfer and data integrity. TAME allows the average Internet user to minimize end-user processing and bandwidth utilization, and accordingly reduces the page load time. All data interaction occurs at the Internet Web site server prior to distribution. www.virtualsellers.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

Commerce One, Inc. announced the Commerce One XML Development Kit (XDK) 1.0, an XML schema toolkit that enables the creation of XML-based business documents and applications. For end users, these new XML-based applications will result in information-rich, robust e-commerce transactions that are as ubiquitous as web pages. Targeted at developers, XDK 1.0 is immediately available and can be downloaded free of charge at Commerce One’s MarketSite www.marketsite.net

ecomXML, Inc. introduced a suite of products ranging from ecomTalk Server, offering secure EDI/back office integration, to ecomFrontier, enabling e-commerce transactions with catalog automation. This ecomSuite is for companies needing to expand their B2B global reach. The solutions use XML technology to streamline business operations, providing full integration with current and future trading partners. The ecomCatalog Automation transfers current catalog database into an XML-based, open standard for display on the ecomFrontier. Trading partners and customers view and execute business transactions directly from the storefront. Suppliers can qualify new trading partners and tailor service offerings as required. ecomTalk Server is a gateway integrator that intelligently transforms and routes documents from the client side into the formats that are relayed and understood by current legacy back-end systems. ecomTalk Server is a secure e-commerce gateway for exchange of transaction documents, such as XML/EDI and EDI, with trading partners via the Internet in Email, FTP or HTTP protocol. It is designed to provide full functionality and does not require special IT personnel for maintenance. www.ecomxml.com

Qualitative Marketing Software Inc. announced the imminent availability of Centrus CIO-XML. This new version of Web-enabled data quality and data enhancement technology from QMSoft lets small to large companies integrate the Centrus brand into their E-Commerce, Call Center and CRM applications in order to get to know their customers better. Centrus CIO-XML — version 2.0 of Centrus CIO, an extensive real-time address data quality, enhancement, record matching, spatial analysis and demographic data solution for intelligently managing call center, e-commerce and point-of-sale customer interactions, is expected to be ready to ship early 1Q 2000. With the use of CIO-XML, IT professionals and database marketing managers can easily integrate multiple data sources. QMSoft hosts data sources such as household and business data files, Claritas Demographics, GDT DynaMap 2000 streets, flood maps, tax maps, and more. Additionally, CIO-XML potentially helps reduce long-term maintenance and operating costs, virtually eliminating the need for multiple and duplicative hardware and software. CIO-XML also offers a platform independent interface, allowing for it to be implemented and used in a variety of computer systems, including the remote user’s palm-top organizer. CIO-XML servers will be available on NT. Any platform that can talk HTML can use the service. QMSoft will also supply client components that handle the XML and the communications in Java, ActiveX/COM, as well as C/C++ for NT, Solaris, HP/UX, IBM AIX and Compaq Tru64. www.qmsoft.com

Bluestone Software, Inc., announced strategic alliances with Grant Thornton LLP, modis Inc., and Technology Solutions Company to establish Total-e-Business Services consulting and implementation practices. Each organization has committed to creating an e-business practice based on Total-e-Business, Bluestone’s e-business solution that meets the exacting demands of the people responsible for e-business operations, sales, marketing, and finance. By aligning with Bluestone, the Total-e-Business Services providers will be trained and certified on the comprehensive integrated e-business platform that combines components for content management, personalization, integration, and e-commerce with Bluestone’s Sapphire/Web Application Server infrastructure and Bluestone XML Suite integration server – based upon JavaServer Pages (JSP) and XML standards. www.bluestone.com