San Jose, CA December 18, 2001 e-Business applications provider BEA Systems today rolled out software that it says will help businesses accelerate and automate the connection of supply and demand chains down to the smallest partners and suppliers.
The new technology, called BEA WebLogic Integration Business Connect, is intended to reduce the time it takes to begin trading with partners over e-business channels.
The solution, which will be available in early 2002, is the result of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with Cyclone Commerce. Under terms of the agreement with Cyclone, BEA will OEM and private label the Cyclone Interchange technology as the Business Connect software.
The agreement is designed to provide BEA WebLogic Integration customers with the tools to rapidly, and cost effectively, connect to trading partners and suppliers, helping enable a critical mass of partners to connect and automate trade across supply and demand chains.
BEA argues that B2B e-commerce has been hampered by costly, inefficient application infrastructures that make it difficult to integrate the disparate systems and proprietary technologies used by the various trading partners in a supply chain.
The software company says that with one business using BEA WebLogic Integration as a hub and their partners using the new Business Connect software as the spokes, businesses can automate the sharing of information while lowering the time and costs associated with this level of integration. The solution provides the security and tools that are required to automate processes between business partners, and it streamlines order management, invoice processing, exception handling and customer service, BEA asserts.
"Businesses have been unable to see returns on their investment in B2B commerce because the cost and complexity of connecting trading partners has been too high," said Ivan Koon, division president at BEA Systems. "It's critical for businesses to be able to more efficiently share information with their entire trading community."
