Net.Commerce and Catalog Enhancements Announced
IBM unrolled the latest versions of Net.Commerce and Catalog Architect at the IBM Solutions ’99 Conference in Las Vegas. Version 3.2 of both these IBM e-business tools will be released in August, in anticipation of the 1999 holiday shopping season.
According to IBM, a Ziff-Davis’ InternetTrak survey indicates 24 million people over the age of 18 are expected to buy gifts online this holiday season, more than tripling the number who made online purchases last year.
“The new versions of Net.Commerce and Catalog Architect will help both new and existing e-businesses maximize the value of their Internet commerce initiatives,” says Karl Salnoske, general manager of e-commerce for IBM Software Solutions. “With the number of online transactions expected to climb exponentially this year, the new software provides greater reliability and scalability to ensure that our customers' e-commerce sites are operational round-the-clock, especially when online sales volumes surges during the upcoming holiday season.”
Available on the AS/400, RS/6000, Windows NT and Sun Solaris platforms, Net.Commerce V3.2 is designed to provide a more open platform for independent software vendor (ISV) and business partner integration, expanding the product capabilities in relationship marketing, content management, business integration customer service and commerce platforms. Net.Commerce is available in two forms, START (priced at $4,999) and PRO (priced at $19,999).
Specific areas of enhancement in V3.2 include: mass import utility, database access, caching, performance monitoring and the ability to use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) payment protocol more selectively. Tivoli systems management support has been added to improve reliability and manageability, and the new release also incorporates the latest version of IBM Payment Server.
Catalog Architect V3.2 has been enhanced to make content management and creation easier for businesses. It includes support for XML as well as enhancements such as smart guides for improving data. V3.2, which runs on Windows NT and is designed to populate DB2 Universal Database and Oracle Database on the AIX, AS/400, Windows NT and Solaris platforms, is priced at $3,000.
--J. Martin