Dennis Callaghan

As Siebel Systems Inc. prepares to announce the long-awaited Web-architected version of its customer relationship management software suite next week, the companys CRM dominance could be slipping, particularly in the midmarket. Theres no question that many Siebel customers-existing and prospective-will welcome the launch of Siebel 7, which is expected to be announced at the Siebel […]

An upgrade to RightNow Technologies Inc.s eService Center online customer service software includes Web self-service enhancements. Web eService Center Version 5.0, which will be formally announced Monday but became available this week, also provides customer assistance via e-mail, live chat and phone, all using a common knowledge base. One self-service enhancement in this version of […]

Lotus Development Corp.s Notes and Domino messaging software is being extended to support more mobile computing. By the end of the year, Lotus Mobile Notes users will be able to gain access to their e-mail, calendar information and address books from Compaq Computer Corp.s iPaq mobile computing devices, which run on Microsoft Corp.s Pocket PC […]

Upgrades of Art Technology Group Inc.s e-commerce software include many enhancements to meet the more sophisticated needs of commerce sites, company officials said. Version 5.5 of ATGs Consumer Commerce, which will begin shipping next week, will provide online retailer and other business-to-consumer sites support for multiple catalogs and price lists, bulk pricing, and product comparisons. […]

Online merchants could face integration hassles as they deploy forthcoming and competing credit card payer authentication technologies from Visa USA and MasterCard International Inc. The technologies, Visas Verified by Visa, due in widespread use this fall, and MasterCards Secure Payment Application service, due next year, take distinctly different approaches. Visa performs authentication on the merchant […]

E-businesses looking for more of the kind of stability and reliability found only in mainframe computers suddenly have a few new solutions to help them get there. Two vendors that help IT users manage and deploy software on enterprise platforms are developing solutions for Linux on IBM mainframes, while Sendmail Inc. last week announced that […]

Salesforce.Com Inc., a fast-growing CRM hosting service, will move to expand its offerings beyond the department level next month with an enterprise-class version of its services. The high-end offering, called Salesforce.com enterprise, will include stronger integration capabilities with other enterprise resource planning and e-business applications—such as those from PeopleSoft Inc., SAP AG and Oracle Corp.—as […]

WiredRed Software Corp. is adding support for two more network directory systems—LDAP and Microsoft Corp.s ADS—to the WiredRed e/pop 3.0 enterprise instant messaging suite. The support, which will be announced at this weeks NetWorld+ Interop show in Atlanta, follows through on the companys strategy of enabling customers to use existing network infrastructure as the basis […]

SAP AG will bolster its CRM software offering this week with an upgrade to its mySAP CRM application suite. But while mySAP CRM 3.0 offers new features that bring it more on par with the customer relationship management market leaders, observers see its appeal limited to enterprise applications vendor SAPs installed base. Key additions in […]

Content management software developers Gauss Interprise Inc., Vignette Corp. and Documentum Inc., among others, are moving to provide more complete offerings that they say can meet companies needs to manage Web pages, documents and all other content. Gauss last week introduced a strategic relationship with BEA Systems Inc. to embed BEAs WebLogic application server in […]

Open Market Inc., an e-commerce pioneer and the holder of patents for the Web shopping cart and online credit card processing, will soon be absorbed into Divine Inc., an Internet holding company turned burgeoning e-business software vendor. Chicago-based Divine is establishing itself as a force in the so-called extended enterprise space to integrate customer data […]

Lotus Development Corp. and America Online Inc. last week agreed to test interoperability between their respective instant messaging products, but few expect the move to lead to an IM industry standard. Lotus, of Cambridge, Mass., and AOL, of Vienna, Va., said they plan to test server-to-server interoperability, using the Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging […]