Sterling Updates Flagship B2B Suite for Multi-Enterprise Collaboration

Version 4.0 of Gentran Integration Suite aims to provide single software platform for business partner connectivity

Version 4.0 of Gentran Integration Suite aims to provide single software platform for business partner connectivity

Columbus, OH — April 6, 2005 — B2B connectivity specialist Sterling Commerce has rolled out the latest version of its flagship platform, offering a solution intended to help companies conduct business with globally distributed partners without the cost and complexity involved in stitching together a myriad of solutions from a variety of vendors.

Sterling, a subsidiary of SBC Communications, said that version 4.0 of its Gentran Integration Suite (GIS) offers full-featured B2B communications and management, translation, enterprise integration, business process management (BPM) and business activity monitoring (BAM) in one suite.

With this new suite, Sterling said it has delivered on its recently announced strategy to build software and services on its multi-enterprise services architecture (MESA). "GIS 4.0 supports Sterling Commerce customers' growth objectives by giving operational and business-line managers the ability to more rapidly manage multi-enterprise business processes without the common cost and complexity associated with deploying and managing multiple integration solutions," Sterling said in announcing the new solution.

New capabilities in GIS 4.0 for establishing and managing trading partner communities include business activity monitoring (BAM) and updated business process management (BPM) for visibility into business processes, providing the ability to take action as events occur. Graphical processing modeling capabilities are intended to make it easy to create and automate business processes.

In addition, the suite offers a "community management" dashboard with portlets that automate change management across the business partner community and provide document and system tracking and reporting tools. New federated capabilities monitor business processes across multiple instances of GIS and alert users to transaction inefficiencies and inaccuracies, allowing for improved automation.

Elsewhere, the solution includes a built-in data compliance engine for data synchronization, as well as improved reporting capabilities that offer an out-of-the-box interface for Cognos reports, with the added ability to build custom reports on data moving through GIS 4.0.

Sterling said that no application server is required to run GIS 4.0, which provides the option for increased performance at a lower cost. And finally, improved calendaring and scheduling capabilities can improve both performance and control over system resources by allowing for greater flexibility in scheduling business processes and workflow engine workloads, according to Sterling.

Monitor company ViewSonic Corporation will utilize the suite's capabilities to improve operating practices and its integration capabilities with retailers, distributors and online channel customers, according to Sterling. With GIS 4.0, ViewSonic will be looking to eliminate supplier delays, errors and inefficiencies to achieve faster product introductions and deliveries to retailers and channel partners, Sterling said.

"Our goal is to deliver top quality service to our customers," said Jordan Beseiso, global business-to-business integration manager at ViewSonic. "By implementing a multi-enterprise collaboration strategy using GIS, we've been able to extend the value of our Oracle ERP system to suppliers and customers while giving ViewSonic business managers access to the right information about events and exceptions to make timely decisions."

"Most CEOs face the challenge of meeting corporate growth objectives without a platform that can extend the value of applications to the very business partners upon which this growth relies," said Sam Starr, CEO of Sterling Commerce. "A new B2B paradigm has emerged in which companies need to attain deep visibility into supply chains and customer operations without the cost and complexity associated with managing multiple integration technologies, even if they arrive in the same box. GIS 4.0 is a complete, unified suite that delivers integration, security, business process management and business intelligence to partners for the visibility businesses need to grow."

Gentran Integration Suite 4.0 is immediately available.


Additional Articles of Interest

For more information on solutions for business process management, see "BPM Rising," the Net Best Thing column in the October/November 2002 issue ofiSource Business (now Supply & Demand Chain Executive) magazine.

As technology's benefits hit the wall, one provider believes business process management can boost competitiveness. Read the SDCExec.com article Finding Adaptability in BPM for more on this topic.


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