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TANTU, BEA Collaborate on Wireless E-Commerce
TANTU Software, which provides mobile e-commerce software, and BEA Systems have forged an alliance to provide solutions that allow businesses to extend wired e-commerce solutions to wireless, and thus into the hands of mobile device users.
Under terms of the alliance, TANTU's Wireless Internet Platform, which connects back-end systems with mobile devices, will be combined with BEA WebLogic Server, a Java application server that allows businesses to build e-commerce applications. TANTAU's m-commerce software platform creates the link for wireless devices--cell phones, PDAs, pagers, and so on--to interact with back-end applications and data sources. It also allows for the creation of personalized applications based on user preferences.
TANTU and BEA are targeting a huge market with their alliance-wireless. Analysts predict that by 2003 more than 1 billion mobile phones will be in use, and half of these will support wireless Internet access. Users will expect their banks and brokerages to allow them to complete financial transactions, such as fund transfers, stock trades and bill payment, over their wireless devices. Aware of this, the companies are touting their alliance as one that will allow "banks and financial services [to] quickly build and deploy mobile e-commerce applications that combine the convenience, reliability and security customers demand, with the scalability required for rapid growth."