NEW YORK, April 27, 1999 — Today at the Internet & Electronic Commerce Conference & Exposition (iEC), Microsoft Corp. announced the Microsoft E-Commerce Alliance, a new program that delivers “one-stop e-commerce solutions” for the Microsoft® platform from its network of partners. The E-Commerce Alliance will make it easier for customers to find, purchase and deploy these e-commerce solutions through a one-stop shopping experience.
Hundreds of industry-leading Microsoft Certified Solution Providers (MCSPs) and other professional services firms, including independent software vendors (ISVs), solution developers, global systems integrators and hosting service providers, have joined the Microsoft E-Commerce Alliance. Companies such as The Baan Co., Cambridge Technology Partners Inc., Clarus Corp., Commerce One Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., Entrust Technologies Inc., Ernst & Young LLP, fine.com Interactive Corp., Great Plains Software, J.D. Edwards & Co., KPMG LLP, NDC Group, OneSoft Corp., Pandesic LLC, Pivotal Software Inc., Rainier Technology, Inc., Sterling Commerce Inc., USWeb/CKS Cornerstone, Wang Global and Webridge Inc. will work with Microsoft to provide customers with one-stop e-commerce solutions.
“Businesses looking for innovative e-commerce solutions to streamline their operations and build stronger relationships with customers and suppliers can find the best software, hosting and implementation services in the industry through Microsoft’s network of partners,” said Charles Stevens, vice president of the Application Developers Customer Unit at Microsoft. “The Microsoft E-Commerce Alliance will simplify e-commerce for customers by combining these offerings into complete solutions that are easy for customers to find and deploy.”
One-Stop E-Commerce Solutions
Microsoft will work with E-Commerce Alliance members to create and co-market offerings that combine the products and services of multiple members into solutions that build on the Microsoft e-commerce platform. These offerings will cover a broad range of e-commerce categories, including corporate purchasing, value chain trading and direct marketing, selling, and service. One-stop e-commerce solutions, including software, services and support, will be specified, integrated and tested through a collaborative process between Microsoft and E-Commerce Alliance members. Deployment and ongoing support of these solutions will be provided to customers through a single point of contact in the E-Commerce Alliance.
At its recent E-Commerce Solutions Briefing on March 4, Microsoft unveiled a strategy for bringing 1 million new businesses online by developing new e-commerce software, MSN marketplace services and BizTalk
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, a new e-commerce framework based on XML and industry standards. E-Commerce Alliance members will play an integral role in making this strategy successful by incorporating these technologies into their offerings and accelerating the availability of solutions. E-Commerce Alliance members are already participating in the definition of BizTalk and will participate in early beta programs of new Microsoft e-commerce software. Many E-Commerce Alliance members will be able to deliver one-stop e-commerce solutions more quickly as the availability of BizTalk enables the integration of e-commerce software.
Customers interested in one-stop e-commerce solutions can find information at http://www.microsoft.com/dns/commerce/ or can contact Microsoft at [email protected]. Microsoft will respond to customers within 24 hours with information regarding e-commerce solutions that meet their business criteria. E-commerce companies interested in joining the Microsoft E-Commerce Alliance can find more information at http://www.microsoft.com/certpartner/ .
Commitment to Customers
Over the past few years, Microsoft has worked with companies to deliver integrated e-commerce solutions, through one-to-one relationships with partners and through offerings such as Microsoft’s Complete Commerce, Data Return Corp.’s CommerceNow, the Ernst & Young and Microsoft eCommerce RapidStart solution, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Servinet’s QuickStart, Primix Solutions QuickStart, and the Microsoft Corporate Purchasing Solutions Framework. The success and popularity of these programs with customers has led to an increased commitment by Microsoft to facilitate the creation of complete, integrated e-commerce solutions.
Through the Microsoft E-Commerce Alliance, companies such as OneSoft, Baan, MasterCard International Inc. and Clarus Corp. have developed offerings with MCSPs and global technology providers to deploy e-commerce solutions in one easy step.
In a separate announcement today, Microsoft and OneSoft unveiled the OneSoft Certified Commerce Solution Provider (O2CSP) program, a co-developed offering that will help customers quickly and reliably deploy comprehensive e-commerce solutions with OneSoft’s software products optimized on the Microsoft platform. The O2CSP program will also leverage the power of companies working together to solve customers’ business problems by providing MCSPs, ISVs and Internet service providers with the tools they need to clearly communicate and implement OneSoft’s software solutions.
“OneSoft’s e-commerce products and solutions provide customers important competitive advantages including open, standards-based software with the flexibility needed to grow and profit in the Internet marketplace,” said James MacIntyre, chairman and CEO of OneSoft Corp. “The alliance with Microsoft will serve to deliver these competitive advantages to our customers and partners, providing them with the most easy-to-buy and flexible e-commerce system available on the Microsoft platform today.”
Baan will deliver its new E-Enterprise suite through Microsoft E-Commerce Alliance members.
“E-Enterprise was designed through extensive interaction with our customers. They told us they expect rich functionality from an out-of-the box solution that is easily deployable and instantly available,” said Andrew Dailey, senior vice president of Baan. “By using Microsoft’s e-commerce platform as the foundation for E-Enterprise, and by recruiting and training top MCSPs and global technology providers to implement this suite of commerce products, Baan is able to exceed its customers’ expectations.”
In addition to these new offerings, customers can also take advantage of the recently announced WebPurchasing program, a joint effort between Clarus, MasterCard International and Microsoft to market and deliver end-to-end, integrated Web-based corporate purchasing solutions with a network of MCSPs and global systems integrators that are trained and ready to deploy them.
Microsoft E-Commerce Products and Services
Microsoft’s e-commerce products and services, including current versions of the Microsoft Windows NT® Server operating system, Site Server Commerce Edition 3.0, Commerce Interchange Pipeline (CIP) technology and Microsoft SQL Server
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, provide Microsoft E-Commerce Alliance members with a comprehensive and integrated platform for developing e-commerce solutions. Microsoft will also provide Alliance members with technical resources in the coming months to enable development of integrated e-commerce solutions for the recently announced Microsoft BizTalk Server, Microsoft Small Business Commerce Services and Microsoft Commerce Server. E-Commerce Alliance members are invited to support and help define the BizTalk framework to make it easier to effectively conduct business with partners and reach consumers over the Internet with integrated e-commerce solutions.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, BizTalk and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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EDITORS’ NOTE, December 30, 2004
— This page has been revised since original publication.
