The travails the RosettaNet consortium has experienced in trying to launch its XML-based business-to-business e-commerce standards effort could serve as a bellwether for the thousands of companies that have yet to join the herd.
United Parcel Service of America Inc. plans soon to launch a beta project using XML to exchange shipment, tracking and rate information with select business customers.
The technology industry may be buzzing about XML and business-to-business marketplaces, but within large corporations, the old tried-and-true electronic data interchange initiatives still rule.
The world's largest online bookseller once protected its precious database servers from a leaky Seattle roof with a piece of blue tarpaulin that a staffer rushed out to buy at Home Depot.
Worldwide PC shipments grew at a fairly solid rate during the first quarter, although the sluggishness of corporate sales dragged the numbers down a bit, two analyst firms reported today.
The percentage of retailers selling merchandise over the Internet doubled from 1999 to 2000, according to a survey of 159 retail executives and IT managers released here at this week's Retail Systems 2000 conference.
Nine months ago, the Sun/Netscape Alliance announced that it would base its forthcoming iPlanet Application Server - due out next month - on code from Netscape Communications Corp.'s application server rather than Sun Microsystems Inc.'s NetDynamics server.
Privacy watchdogs may be on red alert as Web sites collect bushels of data about their shoppers and visitors, but they won't have to go into attack mode anytime soon against many of the online retailers.
The NetDynamics application server may be supported through the Sun/Netscape iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions organization through 2002, but some customers said they're already having trouble getting assistance.
KeyCorp in Cleveland spent more than $10 million and three years building Web applications that rely on Sun Microsystems Inc.'s NetDynamics application server and development tools. So Senior Vice President Bob Dutile says he isn't happy that the Sun/Netscape Alliance elected to discontinue the NetDynamics product and base its forthcoming iPlanet Application Server on Netscape product code.
IBM Corp. today announced a new version of its WebSphere Commerce Suite intended for service providers and financial institutions that set up and host e-commerce sites for small and medium-size businesses.
Open Market Inc. Monday will announce an expanded e-commerce application suite to beef up business managers' control over catalog creation and management and help them personalize online marketing efforts.
The Enhydra open-source application server may become a more viable option for companies building e-commerce applications to check out as it nears support for the latest Java enterprise technology.
The Sun/Netscape Alliance has announced new server software aimed at helping companies and service providers conduct the membership management, personalisation, content aggregation, security and legacy integration services needed to run an e-commerce hub site.
For companies planning to send Web content to the growing number of wireless devices, new middleware products are emerging that should make the job somewhat easier.