Renee Boucher Ferguson

Supply chain management software developer i2 Technologies Inc. is getting ready to put the best face possible on what is expected to be a disastrous quarterly earnings announcement this week. Meanwhile, rival Manugistics Group Inc. continues to build momentum after posting record revenues for the quarter and announcements of additions to its supply chain suite. […]

With the transaction technology and governance of big business-to-business, online trading hubs in place, operators of many of those ventures are finding that setting up the venue is only the first step to getting suppliers to trade at the sites. The roadblock in many cases has been the difficulty those suppliers have had connecting their […]

Pushing forward its software-as-a-service message, Oracle Corp. last week rolled out software offerings and partnerships with hardware vendors aimed at small businesses and partners alike. Oracle unveiled its Oracle Small Business Suite, a new set of e-business applications for small companies looking to Web- enable their business, and its Oracle E-Business Suite Online Any Place […]

Which path to integrating disparate systems is better: hardware or software? Both sides of the debate got new ammunition late last month when Microsoft Corp., NetVendor Inc. and iWay Software announced partnerships to broaden their respective integration options. Microsoft teamed up with CommerceRoute Inc. to help accelerate the adoption of Microsofts .Net and BizTalk framework […]

Sonic Software Corp. and Xora Inc. are developing wireless capabilities that help companies connect their business-to-business applications to wireless devices such as PDAs, cell phones and pagers. The big-ticket promise with wireless B2B access is that traders, suppliers and shippers in a supply chain will be continually available to respond to opportunities and problems through […]

Ironside Technologies Inc. and PeopleSoft Inc. are introducing integration software and applications to bring the systems of manufacturers and their partners closer together. Ironside, a supplier of sell-side business-to-business e-commerce solutions for manufacturers and distributors, last week announced the availability of Ironside Buyer Integrator. The new software enables suppliers to accept data files directly from […]

Sometimes, to do a job right, you have to do it yourself. Enterprise application vendors that have long depended on third parties to link their software for business-to-business collaboration are increasingly accomplishing that integration with their own tools. Even as leaders such as SAP AG and J.D. Edwards & Co. last week introduced new and […]

As application developers add their own integration capabilities to their products, one integration specialist is fighting back with a novel approach to help customers build exchanges and link business processes with partners. WebMethods Inc., of Fairfax, Va., this week will announce the availability of WebMethods Partner Connect, a software and services offering that focuses on […]

PeopleSoft Inc. is boosting its application offerings for service companies again. The ERP software developer will announce next week a relationship with eRoom Technologies Inc. in which the two companies will offer an integrated solution that unites PeopleSofts Enterprise Services Automation product and eRooms Digital Workplace meeting software. The combination will provide quick solutions for […]

In the race to web-enable enterprise applications, PeopleSoft Inc. took a step forward this month with the release of PeopleSoft 8 CRM, which completes the Web enablement of its enterprise resource planning suite. The cornerstone of the release, made at the PeopleSoft Leadership Summit here, was the introduction of an HTML-based architecture that lets users […]

With e-procurement competitors Ariba Inc. and Commerce One Inc. stumbling over earnings reports, Oracle Corp. is pressing its advantage by offering a fast implementation of its software for e-procurement of indirect goods. Oracle will announce this week its Procure-to-Pay in 30 Days service, a hosted solution for streamlining the entire procurement process in a month. […]

A general push to shrink the time it takes to get a product to market is being slowed by the difficulty most manufacturers have in electronically sharing design data with suppliers. Newport News Shipbuilding Corp. orchestrates the design, building and repair of U.S. Navy ships by trading stacks of paper in person, faxing specifications and […]