BEA previews new software suite for B2B e-market collaboration at its fifth annual users conference

BEA Systems, Inc., The E-Commerce Transactions Company, has previewed its new collaboration architecture (code named "Project E-Collaborate") that enables multiple businesses to rapidly create and participate in dynamically linked trading communities. BEA calls this new capability E-Market Integration (EMI).

Based on J2EE and XML standards and the industry-leading BEA WebLogic Server, "Project E-Collaborate" allows companies to dynamically define and implement e-markets and trading processes - a break-through in the bullet-paced Internet economy where speed, flexibility and first-mover advantage are the name of the game.

"Today`s competitive environment requires businesses to constantly increase their reach into new markets, with new partners and customers," said Barbara Britton, president, BEA E-Commerce Integration Division. "The current state of `B2B` integration is all about time-consuming process mapping between one business and another - not about creating new markets, collaboration models, or first-mover advantage. BEA`s `Project E-Collaborate` is designed to allow companies to quickly build micro-markets on the Web, integrate their supply chains, and meet the demands of the e-generation for immediate product access, rich information and ever-improving self service."

According to Daniel Sholler, program director of META Group`s Application Delivery Strategies, "The e-market space is a key category for business growth and viability. Leading solutions, like BEA`s, must include a robust transaction infrastructure, XML translation and back end integration capabilities."

BEA "Project E-Collaborate" is designed to deliver support for numerous business interaction models - system-to-system, system-to-person, and person-to-person. Project E-Collaborate is also designed to manage a full spectrum of trading relationships, from long-standing and structured interactions to dynamic "lighter weight" relationships that may last for only a single trading session. "Project E-Collaborate" is also designed integrate with e-market participants` back-end systems through interoperability with the BEA eLink Integration Server.

BEA`s EMI architecture will allow e-markets to be set up very rapidly - sometimes within hours. Each e-market has a specified "owner," who establishes business processes, buying/selling models (bid, fixed price, auction, etc.) and specific XML vocabularies, such as BizTalk, RosettaNet or other industry schemas, that will be supported in one or more e-markets. Owners grant and provide access to e-market participants via secure, light weight collaboration keys that can be downloaded from the Web. The owner can establish a transaction, subscription or commission fee structure, and charge participants based on a particular business model for trading or collaboration activities within the e-market.

The BEA EMI architecture specifies trader privileges based on the role they play in a given e-market (e.g., buyer, seller, shipper, etc.). BEA`s "Project E-Collaborate" provides flexible support for adding or deleting trading partners, modifying business models or roles, and changing XML schema vocabularies. The infrastructure supports numerous vocabularies and collaborators, who have visibility to market policies, processes and participants through their trading portals provided by BEA software. These portals can provide information from multiple product catalogs and price lists, as well as send or receive messages through multiple device protocols, including e-mail, fax, and WAP for wireless e-market access.

E-markets created using the BEA EMI architecture are managed through an intelligent administrative portal, which logs trading partner activities, financial transactions, and allows for fees to be charged to each participant. E-markets created by "Project E-Collaborate" leverage industry standard HTTPS security protocols as well as a variety of encryption and certificate-based authorization mechanisms.

"BEA`s `Project E-Collaborate` is a significant addition to our end-to-end E-Commerce Transaction Platform, as well as a break-through approach to how businesses integrate to create and manage dynamic new marketplaces on the Internet," concluded Barbara Britton. "E-business today has only really scratched the surface of what is possible as traditional market boundaries fall away. The key to success in the new `Internet world order` lies in being able to share rich information, form dynamic partnerships, and then make deals in real-time to satisfy the e-generation`s unrelenting demands for improved value and self-service. BEA`s `Project E-Collaborate` will set the bar on B2B integration as we know it today."

BEA "Project E-Collaborate" takes full advantage of the proven reliability and scalability of BEA WebLogic Server, interoperates with BEA eLink to seamlessly integrate e-market transactions with trading companies` back-end systems, and can be fully customized to reflect both owners` and traders` preferences using BEA WebLogic Commerce Server personalization components.