J.D. Edwards` XPIT enables `new era of collaborative commerce`

Enterprise software vendor, J.D. Edwards, has announced the general availability of its XPIT (Extended Process Integration) technology. XPI`s "any-to-any" integration capability enables companies to collaborate with multiple suppliers, customers and other valued business partners by linking their disparate systems and applications. A video overview and demonstration of XPI is available at www.jdedwards.com/xpi.

With this announcement, J.D. Edwards delivers an essential element of its strategy to provide enterprise solutions for dynamic collaboration within and among businesses - collaborative commerce. This emerging business and technology trend is rapidly becoming a requirement for competitive advantage in the new economy - because c-commerce allows rapid response to market opportunities, with greater value and efficiency, according to leading technology industry analysts. Gartner Group, for example, says c-commerce systems will become the predominant business-to-business application model by 2004.

J.D. Edwards now offers XPI technology as the central infrastructure for collaborative commerce and as part of its flagship OneWorld Xe software suite. The company also can provide XPI as an add-on product to its more than 6,000 customers. To serve both existing and new customers, J.D. Edwards is leveraging its roots in enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain planning and fulfillment software to offer a new generation of c-commerce solutions that optimize business processes not only within, but also among business enterprises - which is key to creating value and reducing costs, say analysts such as Aberdeen Group.

"Over the past decade, we saw the dominance of internally focused ERP systems that streamlined a company`s own business processes. Today, the emphasis has shifted to a full-scale integration of the customer and supplier into the planning, production and procurement processes, as this is the only way to achieve true business efficiency," commented Jack Maynard of Aberdeen Group. "We`re seeing a strong market opportunity for vendors like J.D. Edwards, who is showing a strong commitment to providing the flexibility and interoperability that is required of IT systems to enable these kinds of relationships."

XPI was developed to break down the communication barriers among various proprietary enterprise systems - a technological constraint that has long hindered open, transparent collaboration among businesses. Using a component-based message broker technology, XPI integrates various enterprise applications and enables internal and B2B interoperability among all leading industry software solutions.

"We`re proud to offer solutions that enable our customers to embrace the new era of collaborative commerce," said Mike Evans, managing director of J.D.

Edwards South Africa. "By that, we mean the ability for companies up and down the supply chain to communicate so dynamically that they anticipate and fulfill their customers` needs precisely and efficiently, responding in real-time to demand or supply changes, without having to pick up the phone. Our XPI technology is designed to support the kind of collaboration that makes this scenario possible, eliminating the barriers posed by incompatible systems and allowing companies to focus their efforts on business, not IT systems."