- InfoWorld Electric
September 16, 1997
Netscape's Actra division will deliver a wholly
revised upgrade to the PublishingXpert Web site
server later this month, adding a new
content-delivery pinnacle to the CommerceXpert family
of business-to-business servers.
Due September 26th, Netscape PublishingXpert 2.0 is a
multitiered, distributed application developed by
Actra using the Netscape ONE platform, which adheres
to such standards as Java, JavaScript, Dynamic HTML,
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, and CORBA.
Used by such content deliverers as PCWorld Online
and the New York Times, the upgrade to
PublishingXpert 1.6 offers personalized content
delivery, improved management of content, secure
payment capabilities, subscription and billing
services, advanced search capabilities, and
centralized administration, said Actra, a joint
venture of Netscape and GE Information Services.
Pricing for PublishingXpert begins at $75,000,
which includes Netscape Enterprise Server and
LiveWire Pro. Oracle Enterprise Server is the
supported database, Actra said. A separate Content
Management Server is also available for $20,000.
Also part of the CommerceXpert family, ECXpert,
currently only available on Solaris, will ship for
Windows NT on Sept. 30. It gives EDI-type
transactions a Web interface and presence for $50,000
per CPU for the first CPU, with discounts for
additional processors. SellerXpert, which tackles the
task on online catalogs, will ship on Sept. 30 for
Solaris, priced at $195,000; an NT version is due
before April 1998.
With PublishingXpert, Actra also introduces the
AgentXpert architecture to provide a CORBA-based
agent framework for detailed personalization and
one-to-one marketing from a user's customer base,
Actra said.
"This marks the first time we have charged a
subscription fee for access to our content,"
said Adam Block, director of product development for
PCWorld Online, in San Francisco.
Block said he likes PublishingXpert's scalable
architecture and multihosting capability. "Its
multihosting capability allows us to serve a wide
variety of unique publications based on the same
infrastructure, using common billing, staging and
customer service components," he said.
PublishingXpert 2.0 also uses technology from
CyberCash, for secure payment transactions;
NetObjects Fusion, for Web site-building
capabilities; PLS, for site-navigation for end-users;
and Verity, for advanced searches and native indexing
of various types of files.
Netscape PublishingXpert 2.0 on Sun Solaris is
scheduled to be available beginning September 26th,
with SGI's Irix and Microsoft's Windows NT scheduled
for availability by year's end and in the first
quarter of next year, respectively.
Netscape Communications Corp. in Mountain View,
Calif., is at (415) 937-2555 or http://www.netscape.com/.
Actra Business Systems, in Sunnyvale, Calif., is at http://www.actracorp.com/.
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