Palo Alto, CA and Dallas May 9, 2001 Sun Microsystems, iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions and i2 Technologies today announced an alliance designed to advance the development and adoption of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. The alliance includes joint engineering, sales, support and marketing activities. The solutions developed under this alliance are intended to enable iPlanet and i2 software to be interoperable on the Sun platform and will be a key deployment of the Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) architecture.
The offering, scheduled to be available later this year, is intended to be a set of services providing interoperability between i2 CRM Solutions and the iPlanet e-business solutions on the Sun platform. The i2 CRM solution is a suite of applications that power the planning and execution of customer-facing business functions while managing orders throughout the process. The iPlanet SellerXpert and iPlanet BillerXpert software will provide electronic bill/invoice presentment and payment solutions.
Products and services from the alliance will be supported through a dedicated group of Sun and i2 sales and pre-sales support resources including: Sun iForce Ready Center proof-of-concept engagements and competency centers, i2 Center of Excellence (COE), and through Sun's iForce Partner Network of Application Service Provider (ASP), service provider, eIntegrator, and Systems Integrator (SI) partners worldwide.
"By collaborating we are able to deliver innovative e-business solutions that enable our customers to develop and deploy B2B solutions very quickly and reliably," said Masood Jabbar, executive vice president for Sun Microsystems. "Sun also intends to implement an integrated iPlanet and i2 solution as part of our internal value chain strategy demonstrating our confidence in this collective effort."
"Sun ONE provides a significant advantage for enterprises looking to rapidly deploy smart Web services-based e-commerce implementations," said Mark Tolliver, president and general manager of iPlanet.
"The combination of going to market with Sun Microsystems and iPlanet gives i2 the opportunity to deliver customer value through e-business solutions on a proven, e-commerce infrastructure platform," said Reagan Lancaster, president of Worldwide Field Operations of i2. "This alliance with Sun and iPlanet will further generate customer business value through the deployment of the i2 CRM solution."
Customer relationship management and supply chain solutions integration consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers will complement the partner network as a preferred integrator.
PricewaterhouseCoopers consultants will be trained on the solution, combining industry experience with knowledge of business processes. Furthermore, Sun, i2, and PricewaterhouseCoopers intend to develop a joint Go-to-Market strategy, which will target key vertical industries, and PricewaterhouseCoopers will provide client demonstration and project "jumpstart" capabilities for this solution at its Global Technology Centers.
