Harbinger Plans New Initiatives to Simplify E-Business
COMMON 2000, SAN DIEGO—In an effort to strengthen its role as a “trusted intermediary in the Internet market,” Harbinger Corp. (Atlanta) announced three new initiatives at last month’s COMMON 2000. Chief among the announcements was the launch of TrustedLink e-Version 5, the latest release of Harbinger’s popular data transformation and integration tool for AS/400.
In a related announcement, Harbinger says the new software version has been certified by J.D. Edwards and Company, meaning TrustedLink can be used to integrate data from J.D. Edwards’ OneWorld and WorldSoftware products directly into standard e-commerce data formats.
TrustedLink e-Version 5 includes enhanced Web-enabled capabilities to improve customers’ ability to communicate throughout their supply chain. The new features include Web-based transaction tracking and data mining, 24-hour online customer service, and fast downloads of software upgrades. The product also allows secure connection to Harbinger’s e-commerce Web portal, harbinger.net.
| TrustedLink e-Version 5 includes enhanced Web-enabled capabilities to improve customers’ ability to communicate throughout their supply chain. |
The release of e-Version 5 and the certification by J.D. Edwards are part of Harbinger’s overall strategy to promote its software as a means to simplify and encourage supply-chain communication. As part of that effort, Harbinger also announced a goal to migrate all 40,000 of its customers—including 6,500 AS/400 users—to IP connectivity by the middle of 2000. Effective interaction with business partners in an IP framework, Harper believes, is key to building a successful e-business.
“You hear a lot of talk today about business-to-consumer service, and that’s going to be important for e-commerce,” says Cindy Harper, senior director and market manager for midmarket solutions at Harbinger. “But right now, the real force driving Internet commerce, the real dollars that are being invested, is really in business-to business.”
One of the biggest obstacles in managing a supply chain is establishing communication among different partners with disparate systems. A portal such as harbinger.net is better equipped to bring such business partners together, Harper contends. For instance, she suggests that using harbinger.net might be a more useful alternative to the online vertical market portal for suppliers and distributors recently formed by the Big Three car manufacturers.
“For a second-tier kind of supplier it’s very difficult to think about doing business with Ford, GM, Chrysler, when they have to interface with all those systems,” Harper says. “Harbinger.net allows you to interact with all those different systems.”
The addition of the XML tool in e-Version 5 is especially important in supply-chain communication with TrustedLink, because it allows interaction with even those business partners who have no e-commerce capability.
“What we’re providing with this XML tool is the ability to create visual documents to a non e-enabled business partner over the Internet,” Harper says. “The receiver only has to have access to e-mail.”
TrustedLink e-Version 5 is immediately available on a licensed or subscription basis. Pricing ranges from $12,500 to $75,000, and subscription prices are based partially on volume of document transactions.
Related Editorial:
Harbinger Lays Down E-Commerce PipelineRelated Information:
Harbinger Corp. (new window)