News Briefs and Product Shorts

Manhattan Forecasts a Winner with $50 Million Purchase of Evant

Manhattan Associates made a major supply chain planning score last week when it signed a definitive agreement to buy Evant for about $50 million in cash. Evant, which writes in Java and is based in San Francisco, had about 60 customers in the retail, manufacturing and wholesale distribution industries, including many that were also Manhattan Associates customers, according to the company, whose reputation was founded on its OS/400-based warehouse management system (WMS). "We believe the extension into supply chain planning and replenishment is a natural evolution for Manhattan Associates," says Pete Sinisgalli, president and CEO of Manhattan, which is based in Atlanta. "We know from experience with our joint customers, that companies with the best supply chains in the world are looking for a single business partner to provide solutions and expertise for integrating their supply and demand networks." While Evant's software runs on many operating systems, many of its customers implemented it on OS/400 servers, including O'Reilly Auto Parts, a 1,000-store chain of specialty auto parts that received the Retail Systems 2003 Achievement Awards for its implementation of an early version of Evant's planning solution that enabled it to become much more efficient in its handling of inventory.

Silvon Boosts Graphing Capabilities with Stratum 4.1

Silvon Software recently launched Stratum version 4.1, a new release of its business intelligence software for OS/400 servers and other platforms. With this release, Silvon has improved the performance dashboard capabilities of Stratum, particularly through its Web browser interface, the Stratum.Viewer. Silvon says the new capabilities enable users to quickly graph all rows and columns of data within an analytical view, in just a couple of mouse clicks. Alternatively, they can use the product's new graphic wizard to define a graph and display only the information they need to see. Users have a range of graph types with Stratum 4.1, including area, bar, bubble, and column graphs, "combinational" and doughnut graphs, line, pie, and point graphs, two spline and spline area graphs, and a variety of stacked graphs. Lastly, Stratum 4.1 adds support for Windows Server 2003. Stratum 4.1 was the first new release of the product in more than two years (see "Silvon Develops Inventory Optimization Software for iSeries").

Thresher Optimizes Scottish Vodka Supply with JDA Planning Software

The Thresher Group, the leading retailer of specialty drinks in the U.K., has improved the flow of vodka and other drinks to Scots and their fellow countrymen with the help of OS/400-based supply chain software from JDA Software Group, the Arizona software developer announced last week. Thresher's use of JDA's Merchandise Management System-I and Advanced Warehouse Replenishment by E3, both OS/400 applications, has helped the retailer to optimize the movement of inventory from its seven warehouses to its retailing units. The company reported several benefits of using the software, including improved product availability, reduced stock in warehouses, reduced reserve stock in stores, reduced investment in slow- and non-selling product lines, and more accurate balancing of stock across warehouse network. But perhaps most importantly, the software has enabled Thresher to make more accurate forecasts and to manage stores so that they are more "in line with consumer demand," according to Simon Thomas, Thresher's IT and business change director. "This means that many of our stores in Scotland, for instance, which tend to sell 50 percent more vodka, can be grouped together and allocated ranges according to their very specific sales needs.

BNX Streamlines SSO Implementations with Authenticated Sign-On 5.5

BNX Systems last week launched Authenticated Sign-On 5.5, a new release of its flagship solution that combines strong authentication with single sign-on capabilities for a range of platforms. Building adapters that connect OS/400 applications with Authenticated Sign-On should be easier as a result of the new Express Mode for the BNX Adapter Builder. BNX claims the new Express Mode, which utilizes wizards to create adapters for legacy, Web, and Windows applications without programming, will cut the time it previously took to connect applications to the Authenticated Sign-On system by 80 percent. This release also allows IT administrations to enable users to input their own application credentials during initial login, which will virtually eliminate the process of manually enrolling users into the system. Lastly, this release adds new methods of authentication that bolster authentication devices that include tokens, fingerprint scanners, facial recognition, iris readers, smart card, and proximity devices. "The business benefits of BNX Authenticated Sign-On are proven. It helps organizations increase their security, meet regulatory compliance requirements, decrease help desk costs, and increase employee productivity," says Mike Harper, CEO of BNX. And that's no exaggeration: check out our case study on a BNX customer, "Biometrics and SSO Treat Password Disease at Prescription Solutions", which ran last week.

Johnson Outdoors Taps SPS Commerce for Hosted EDI

Johnson Outdoors, a $335-million manufacturer of outdoor equipment, has selected SPS Commerce to provide it with EDI functionality through a hosted model. The Racine, Wisconsin, manufacturer, which uses the J.D. Edwards OneWorld XE ERP system (now called EnterpriseOne, and owned by Oracle) on an iSeries server, elected to rip out its current EDI system and go with the hosted SPS Commerce solution as a way to consolidate its EDI infrastructure. "As our business expanded and customer EDI requirements grew increasingly more complex, we concluded that a common EDI solution across our business portfolio was needed," says Jerry Perkins, president and chief operating officer at Johnson Outdoors. "We looked at the solutions currently in place across our operations, and it very quickly became clear that a hosted EDI service was more efficient and ultimately a more effective use of our resources." SPS Commerce, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, provides customers with EDI functionality through several delivery mechanisms, including through fax and the mail (for customers with fewer than 50 transactions per month), through Web forms (for up to 300 transactions per month), and through integration with existing applications (for 200 to 500-plus transactions per month). Johnson Outdoors, which operates in 24 locations in 17 countries and counts more than 100 retailers and other organizations as trading partners, is probably at the upper end of that transaction spectrum. Another J.D. Edwards shop, Northern Tool + Equipment Co., a Burnsville, Minnesota, manufacturer of tools with about 700 trading partners, also elected to go with SPS Commerce for hosted EDI earlier this year.

Devon IT Unveils Windows-Based Thin Client

Thin client manufacturer Devon IT last week unveiled the NTA 8010C, its first Windows-based thin client, starting at about $400. Equipped with a VIA Technologies C3 processor running 733Mhz and the OEM version of Microsoft's desktop operating system, the NTA 8010C provides all the benefits of thin client computing (no hard disk or moving parts, simple to update en masse) with the capability to run Windows applications. The device, like Devon's entire line of thin clients (which, before the release of the 8010C, were entirely Linux-based), supports legacy applications through 3270 and X-Windows emulation.