News Briefs and Product Shorts

EXTOL Gets Certified to Provide End-to-End UCCnet Solution

EXTOL announced last week that it has passed UCCnet certification testing for its UCCnet software, called EXTOL Business Integrator for UCCnet Services. With a full complement of UCCnet-required features, such as a trade item catalog, interactive maintenance, workflow, and certified message translation and communications, EXTOL Business Integrator for UCCnet Services provides everything a supplier needs in order to connect to the UCCnet product data repository, says EXTOL vice president Jim O'Leary. EXTOL's Java-based software, which runs on OS/400, Windows, Unix, and Linux operating systems, passed certification testing for UCCnet Synchronization Suite Version 2.2.1, the most up-to-date release. EXTOL is a member of the Uniform Code Council's Solution Partner Program and is one of 13 vendors certified to provide a "full UCCnet solution," according to UCCnet's Web site.

Evant Launches New Supply Chain Products, Announces New Customers

Three seems to be the magic number for Evant these days, as the up-and-coming vendor of supply chain software recently announced three new or upgraded products, as well as three new customers. First, Evant announced Enterprise Information Management, a new data repository application that lets retailers, wholesalers, and distributors establish a single, integrated system of record for critical data, such as product, location, time period, vendor, and customer. Then the company announced new versions of Merchandising Planning and Demand Planning and Replenishment, its core applications designed to help retailers and distributors optimize their inventory. The San Francisco-based vendor also was praised recently by industry analyst AMR Research, which in a report said, "Our position continues to be that successful Advanced Retail Planning Systems (ARPS) will come from vendors that properly blend usability, scalability, and science into a workbench that lets retailers focus on customer-responsive retailing and not on the technology itself. We expect companies like Evant, which have invested heavily in these exact underpinnings, to lead the ARPS revolution in 2004 and beyond." Finally, the company announced three new customers in the retail sector, including Staples (deployed Merchandise Planning in 2003); Tweeter (plans to deploy Merchandise Planning during the second quarter of 2004); and cataloger Lillian Vernon (plans to deploy Merchandise Planning and Demand Planning and Replenishment). While Evant's software is written in Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), the majority of implementations are occurring on the iSeries; however, target platforms were not included in the customer announcements.

CommercialWare Software Helps Retailers Locate Inventory in Stores, Warehouses

CommercialWare, a developer of OS/400-based software for multi-channel retailers, announced a new module called CWLocate last week at the National Retail Federation conference. CWLocate is designed to allow retailers and direct marketers to easily view inventory availability across all of a retailer's sales channels, including retail outlets and distribution centers. The software works across CommercialWare's software suite and can help locate merchandise whether the customer is inquiring in person at a point-of-sale terminal, over the phone, or through a Web site. CWLocate integrates with CommercialWare's flagship CWDirect suite and its CWStore POS system. The software also enables individual stores to update their stock availability in several different ways, and also provides availability statistics of products at given locations.

Magic Software's iBOLT Gets "Challenger" Status in META Group's EAI Roundup

The sole iSeries software vendor ranked in the META Group's recent market analysis of enterprise application integration software is Magic Software. Last week the Irvine, California, company announced that its iBOLT application integration software has been given "market challenger" status by META in its recently released METAspectrum for EAI report. David Leichner, Magic's vice president of marketing, says, "After only a very short time in the market, iBOLT has jumped into the challenger area of the METAspectrum, together with some of the traditional vendors in the EAI [enterprise application integration] space." Magic Software was also noted as the only EAI software vendor in the META study that is actively targeting the iSeries/midrange market. Magic Software launched iBOLT about a year ago.

Create!form Opens Online Support Center for Customers on Maintenance

Document management software vendor Create!form International (now a Bottomline Technologies company) is making some changes to its support services. Last week the Waltham, Massachusetts, company launched its new KnowledgeLink online customer support center, which provides customers with access to an array of information and updates. KnowledgeLink gives customers access to their installation details, as well as the capability to submit and check the status of support requests. It also includes a database of searchable technical information, called a "Knowledgebase." Any customer who purchased a standard maintenance plan can also download patches and updates, request major upgrades, and access user newsletters via KnowledgeLink, Create!form says.

Vision Solutions Targets OS/400 and Windows Shops with "HA for 25K" Offering

Vision Solutions, which launched the Orion high availability framework software in 2003, yesterday announced price cuts for its OS/400 and Windows high availability software and implementation services as part of its "HA for 25K" offering. On the iSeries side, the promotion covers Vision's ORION Express for OS/400, which must be installed on an iSeries Model 810. On the Windows side, the promotion concerns ORION Professional for Windows, which must be installed on an Integrated xSeries Server or on an external xSeries box connected to the iSeries via an Integrated xSeries Adapter. The deal also includes services and support, through either Vision or a certified reseller. It includes professional onsite implementation, operator training and software maintenance, and support for one year. The iSeries shops that purchase software under Vision's new "HA for 25K" offer are also eligible to save up to $40,000 on an iSeries Model 810 as part of IBM's HA Server value-add offering.