In-Depth

Industry News

• 12/01/2000

Hasbro Inc. will use Integrated Development Enterprise Inc.’s (IDe) IDweb software, an Internet-based solution for development chain management (DCM). Hasbro will use IDweb for project management and resource management for capturing process performance metrics, and for strategic evaluation of its development portfolio.

IDweb integrates resource availability with process information from every stage of product development to provide a 360-degree view of projects, balanced against strategic objectives. The agreement with Hasbro calls for a multi-site deployment of IDweb, providing access to product development information by project managers and team members developing many brands, including Playskool, Kenner, Tonka, Galoob, G.I. Joe, Action Man, Easy-Bake and Lite-Brite. Although geographically dispersed on three continents, IDweb will aid in the integration of planning, execution and status-reporting efforts, delivering enhanced management capabilities to project core teams and improved visibility of the company’s development portfolio.

Nearly 75 percent of e-businesses with $200 million in online revenues have suffered a Web site failure in the past six months putting customer satisfaction and online business at risk, says a study conducted by IDC.

The study, performed by IDC analysts and commissioned by Vertical Sky, goes on to cite that 63.5 percent of the IT professionals surveyed were very concerned about damage to the company’s image and reputation resulting from an outage. Nearly one-half (49 percent) expressed concern about lost revenue, and many believed that more than four outages within a six-month period could cause a responsible IT person to lose his job.

IDC’s survey identified software bugs and upgrades as significant causes for Web site outages.

IBM has been chosen to build the information technology infrastructure for First Genetic Trust Inc., a new company that will offer online genetic "banking" services to individuals and support to healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies and medical researchers studying genes.

First Genetic Trust’s services will include collecting, analyzing and maintaining genetic data for ongoing clinical trials for drug discovery; safeguarding DNA samples; and hosting an online portal for genetic information, education and counseling services. First Genetic Trust intends to expand its services to include online genetic banking.

Integral to these services will be information systems and a security architecture to protect patient confidentiality, and ensure informed consent to any specific use of an individual’s DNA. IBM will provide hardware, software and services to First Genetic Trust, including high-performance computing, database and security technologies.

Sprint Selects Oracle iAS for Wireless Service

Sprint PCS has selected Oracle’s Internet Application Server (iAS) Wireless Edition to offer new Internet-based wireless services to its consumers and business users. The deal with Sprint PCS is the largest yet for Oracle iAS Wireless Edition, potentially serving eight million Sprint PCS subscribers. In October, Sprint PCS launched its first Oracle iAS Wireless Edition-based service, My Wireless Web. The Oracle solution also will enable future business-to-business wireless applications.

Oracle iAS Wireless Edition enables Sprint PCS to make information, in any database or Internet application, available to any wireless device connected to the Internet – personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless phones, hand-held computers, and even standard telephones. This flexibility comes from Oracle’s support of a wide variety of mark-up languages, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Wireless Markup Language (WML) and VoxML, and protocols, such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

For more information, visit Oracle’s Web site at www.oracle.com.

WRQ, a provider of integration and connectivity solutions for the enterprise, announced that 10 new integration partners have become authorized members of its worldwide EAI Alliance Program, which provides system integrators, consultants, developers and their professional e-business architects and system engineers, specialized support and training for deploying WRQ’s EAI technology solutions. These partners join WRQ in delivering cost-effective and timely solutions for customers moving to e-business with WRQ’s EAI solutions – WRQ Apptrieve (v.3.5) and WRQ VeraStream.

WRQ’s new global partners include: Abacus Data Systems, Endymion Systems Inc., HealthBlocks.com, Logix Iberca, Maxim Solutions Group, Netmaster, Planet 7 Technologies, Relational Data Systems, Riddle Technologies Inc. and Siosistemi.