Rearden Revitalizes B2B E-Commerce

Rearden Commerce Inc. launched a new company and e-commerce software system Monday that could change the way businesses procure services online.

Rearden, which has operated under stealth mode as Talaris, has been five years in the planning. What has emerged is a Web services-based Rearden Commerce Platform, along with its initial application, Rearden EBS (Employee Business Services).

Patrick Grady, a former venture capitalist, formed Rearden after gaining insight from a team of experts—including Jon Bosak of Sun Microsystems Inc., Adam Bosworth of Google Inc. and Dr. Robert Glushko, an adjunct professor at the School of Information Management & Systems at the University of California, Berkeley—on how to use Web services and SOAs (service-oriented architectures) to their full potential.

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According to Grady, B2B commerce didnt die with the dot-com bust, but went quietly underground until it got it right. Where before the customers and suppliers had to conform to whatever B2B software stack or service was facilitating the transaction, Rearden uses standards-based Web services to link the parties.

Rearden EBS puts more power and convenience in the hands of users, and easy management from the IT administrator perspective, in facilitating, scheduling and purchasing of common employee services such as travel, shipping and conferencing. The Web services architecture works in between the customer and a “grid” of suppliers, each of whom has created Web services around their offerings that the Rearden platform can tap into on demand, officials said.

The Rearden Commerce Platform and Rearden EBS are available now from the San Mateo, Calif., company.

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