Global enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendor Scala Business Solutions has been named an Enterprise Member of the Open Applications Group (OAG), a not-for-profit consortium founded in 1995 to promote standardisation in the IT industry based on XML. As such the OAG is the world's largest publisher of XML-based content for business software interoperability.
"Scala has supported the work of the OAG since 1999 and we believe it is time for all software vendors to adopt a unified standard," says Mike Burdett, Scala's Chief Executive Officer. "This will allow any user to easily integrate their applications and reduce the time and cost of implementation, which is especially valuable to our customers who roll-out our software in locations all over the world. The OAG is a valuable mediator within the IT industry and we look forward to playing a more prominent role within this consortium in order to help in the future evolution of documenting standards."
The aim of the OAG is to encourage the adoption of a unifying standard for application integration and e-business, explains Shamik Sinha, CEO of Scala Africa. "Unified standards will enable speedy implementations and a subsequent a faster return on investment, lower integration costs and a low total cost of ownership," he says.
Sinha adds that as the OAG gains more support from companies like Scala, common message standards will become widespread. "This will allow businesses to enjoy the full benefit of near plug-and-play integration with vendors working together through these bodies."
"Standards save money, and support of software providers like Scala for the OAGIS Open Standard ensures that end-users will lower their total cost of ownership and achieve much faster return of investment over using non-standards based software," says David Connelly, CEO of the OAG.
The OAG was formed by companies including Dunn & Bradstreet, Oracle and SAP, and has gone on to gain members such as The Ford Motor Company, IBM, Mercator, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"The industry has been talking about a future where businesses will be transacting with each other online. It began as e-commerce, but has grown into something far more powerful," says Burdett. "Organisations as diverse as manufacturers, hoteliers, and telecoms companies have all realised the potential of being able to interact over the Internet, exchanging purchase orders, invoices and checking stock levels with minimum human intervention. This amount of collaboration means that companies must take on board systems that inter-operate, which in turn is driving the need for standardisation of protocols. The work of the OAG is imperative in ensuring the IT industry accepts the responsibility of adopting the same standards," he concludes.
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The Open Applications Group is a non-profit consortium focusing on best practices and process-based XML content for e-business and application integration. It is the largest publisher of XML-based content for business software interoperability in the world. Open Applications Group, Inc members have over six years of extensive experience in building this industry consensus-based framework for business software application interoperability and have developed a repeatable process for quickly developing high quality business content and XML representations of that content. For more information, visit www.openapplications.org.
Scala Business Solutions
Scala Business Solutions creates collaborative ERP software - integrating Internet technology and traditional ERP functionality - to make global business simple. With Scala, global companies can fully integrate all their ERP systems anywhere in the world, whether in a subsidiary, division or headquarters, and extending to their partners and suppliers. Scala's collaborative ERP software makes it possible for global companies to meet the requirements for advanced e-business as well as use a standard ERP product for managing traditional business processes. This enables them to gain measurable benefits from trading electronically, building a private exchange or global portal, or optimising the supply chain.
From offices in Europe, North America and the Far East, and through its network of partners and dealers, Scala delivers software and services that are available in over 30 languages in more than 140 countries.
Scala is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol: SCALA). 2001 revenue was $70.6 million.
Visit Scala's Web site at www.scala.net for press information including press releases, information for investors, and company and product information.
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