QAD, IBM Team on Total E-Business Solution

• 04/25/2000

IBM and e-business software developer QAD (Carpinteria, Calif.) have teamed up to provide total e-business solutions for manufacturers and distributors, combining IBM’s WebSphere Commerce Suite with QAD’s eQ business-to-business applications.

“The combination of WebSphere Commerce Suite and QAD eQ will provide an e-business solution for companies with complex, centralized fulfillment supply chains,” says Dave Leiderbach, VP of e-commerce, IBM Software Solutions. “Through this relationship, IBM and QAD are helping manufacturers and distributors take advantage of e-business.”

QAD eQ is an e-business application suite comprised of “buy-side” and “sell-side” management functions with replenishment and exchange capability. It executes transactions based on agreements and preferences set by key parties in the supply chain. IBM’s WebSphere Commerce Suite provides an integrated e-commerce storefront to help companies establish, expand and maintain an e-commerce site. With the combined solution, which users can access through an Internet store front, WebSphere will accept customer orders, which will then be fulfilled automatically across the extended supply chain using QAD eQ.

“Companies such as Amazon and Dell have developed collaborative B2B applications in-house to electronically pass their customer orders to trading partners,” says Pam Lopker president of QAD. “With the integration of QAD eQ and IBM WebSphere Commerce, companies will be able to purchase a business storefront user interface with a full-featured B2B order management solution that addresses the fulfillment of orders across the extended supply chain.”

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