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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
E-COMMERCE: NEW FEATURES FOR LITTLE MONEY
- By Michael Moeller , PC WEEK
- Oracle Corp., Actra Business Systems and Lotus
Development Corp. are raising the bar on electronic
commerce solutions with new servers.
- Each is shipping or preparing to ship systems for
business-to-business and business-to-consumer
applications that join Microsoft Corp.'s newly
released $5,000 Site Server Enterprise in offering
high performance and functionality at relatively low
prices. The cost of the new E-commerce servers
is sure to put pressure on smaller companies. Open
Market Inc., BroadVision Inc. and Connect Inc. have
already hit the market with considerably more
expensive applications, said Michael Goulde, an
analyst at Patricia Seybold's Office Computing Group,
in Boston. What remains to be seen is whether the new,
cheaper applications are as reliable.
- "Ultimately, the question is, who is providing the
functionality and stability and performance that
customers require?" Goulde said. "It's easier to
provide functionality than performance."
- This week, Oracle will ship its ICS (Internet
Commerce Server), formerly code-named Apollo, which
combines a number of Oracle database and Web
applications with third-party payment offerings.
- Priced at $19,995, Oracle's ICS is a cartridge
that fits into the Oracle Web Applications Server 3.0
Advanced Edition. With the package, users will receive
an Oracle7 database, the ConText search server,
VeriFone's Virtual Point of Sale software and
CyberCash Inc.'s micropayment software.
- Some of the core features of ICS include automatic
generation of catalogs out of the database and batch
loading of information into back-end financial
applications.
- The new server also comes with Store Manager, a
Java-based management application that includes
customizable HTML templates and authoring tools for
building and managing an online storefront. Store
Manager also provides a staging system for testing the
storefront before launching it.
- In addition, the server software includes shopping
cart capabilities, as well as the ability to check on
the shipping status of goods purchased at a site.
- TanData Corp. and TaxWare International Inc. are
providing APIs to their respective products. TanData's
Progistics.Merchant automates the shipping and
handling of goods; TaxWare's Internet Tax System
enables a site to build in automated tax calculations.
Both applications are available separately.
- Actra, a joint venture of Netscape Communications
Corp. and General Electric Information Services, this
week will ship ECXpert, the foundation of a suite of
servers that the company is planning to release this
year as part of its CrossCommerce initiative.
- Later this year, Actra will roll out OrderXpert
Seller, OrderXpert Buyer, MerchantXpert and
PublishingXpert. ECXpert will provide a
comprehensive suite of applications for corporations
looking to sell to consumers and business partners.
- ECXpert, which starts at $25,000, provides
companies with the ability to interface and work with
EDI (electronic data interchange) systems over the
Internet.
- "I like their approach because Internet commerce
is not only about selling to consumers or business but
for selling to both groups," said the IS manager at a
retailer based in the Northwest. "I want to work with
my vendors on one side and the consumers on the other.
To be able to do that with an integrated system would
be great."
- ECXpert provides EDI mapping translation to
back-end systems, document tracking and trading
partnership management. Management of ECXpert is
handled by a Java-based application that enables users
to establish cross-company relationships, integrated
workflow and access control. Lotus is shipping the
$1,295 Domino.Merchant, an application for the Domino
server, and has plans for further integration with
parent IBM's E-commerce offerings.
- Domino.Merchant offers product catalogs, shopping
cart capabilities, order processing, tax calculations
and various payment features.
- This summer, Lotus will upgrade the application
for IBM's Net.Commerce on inventory management,
relational DBMS access, and Secure Electronic
Transactions using Visa or MasterCard. The application
also will be able to support Secure Sockets Layer 3.0
encryption, which will be included in Domino 4.6 this
summer, officials said.
- Oracle is at (415) 506-7000 or
http://www.oracle.com;
Actra is at (888)706-2600 or
http://www.actracorp.com;
Lotus is at (800) 343-5414 or
http://www.lotus.com.
- Additional reporting by Jim Kerstetter and
Scot Petersen
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