Renee Boucher Ferguson

When manufacturers set out to take advantage of electronic cataloging, many settled for simply listing the parts and products available. These days, as buyers demand more information and place more unique orders, such lists simply dont suffice. As a result, some manufacturers, in turn, are pushing their business-to-business software providers to give them more capabilities […]

VerticalNet Inc., a company that in the past few months said it would move away from the business-to-business exchange model to focus on becoming a software and services provider, late last month said it is buying another exchange. Commerx Inc., an e-business software and networks provider, announced that it is divesting its online exchange for […]

Tidal Software Inc. has taken the multiapplication, multiserver scheduling and workload management functionality of its sysAdmiral job scheduling software and added an event-response mechanism. The new product, called Triton 1.5 and due to be announced midmonth, enables companies to rapidly and noninvasively integrate tasks and scripts into their data centers through lightweight adapters, according to […]

One of the problems inherent in business-to-business online trading is the lack of trust between buyers and sellers that do not have an existing relationship. Aucxis Corp. and eCredible Ltd. are providing platforms that guarantee payment for sellers by ensuring a financially guaranteed buyer, thus reducing the risk of conducting online transactions. Aucxis Real-Time Commerce […]

Getting involved in secure, business-to-business e-commerce may be a little easier thanks to new all-in-one packages from IBM and the duo of Viewlocity Inc. and bTrade.com Inc. The former this month released iSeries Connect, which makes applications B2B-ready by providing tools, connectivity and catalog functions. The latter will integrate their online supply chain software next […]

Manugistics Group Inc. last week announced an initiative with Microsoft Corp. and KPMG Consulting Inc. that officials said will make it easier and less expensive for companies to connect to online exchanges. The trio will bundle Manugistics supply chain applications with Microsofts .Net delivery mechanism to provide Web-based supply chain packages that enable customers to […]

Consulting companies are jockeying for position in the business-to-business space by trying to provide an assortment of prebundled applications that demystify the confusing process of doing business on the Web. But while most consultants said they feel some sort of offering is needed, the task of generating a one-size-fits-all solution for users in specific businesses […]

Keeping a low profile is getting a lot of attention from legislators in a pair of online privacy measures aimed at protecting consumers personal data. The efforts, privacy advocates say, are required to keep businesses hungry for information from exploiting customer data without consent. But critics charge that the rules are politically motivated, expensive to […]

As Oracle Corp. offers its vision of software as a service at its AppsWorld conference in New Orleans this week, a trio of other software companies will roll out languages and tools that enable developers to more effectively manage data that runs on Oracle platforms. Four Js Development Tools will announce a development language designed […]

Developers of business-to-business software have made big promises about how their products will improve the efficiency of customers supply chains. But many of the companies that bought into B2B for big returns have been left to count only pennies. One reason for the lackluster returns is that integrating data from third-party applications into e-commerce frameworks […]

New computer technology from several developers will let electric utilities gather information from remote locations more easily. MuNet Inc., Metering Technology Corp. and Coactive Networks last week presented products at the DistribuTech energy and utilities conference here that will give utility companies access to meters and other devices via the Internet or wireless connections. MuNet, […]

Like most business-to-business endeavors, the transportation industry is struggling along getting settled into B2B. At least one company, however, is making what it hopes are strategic moves in the right direction. Logistics.com Inc., a transportation optimization software company, is restructuring its product line to an ASP (application service provider) model and launching a new Web […]