IBM is rolling out software to let would-be ‘Net vendors host electronic marketplaces. The WebSphere Commerce Suite, Marketplace Edition, will let users do things such as create online auction sites. Potential buyers and sellers can do business on these e-marketplaces in real time, even while using handheld devices like mobile phones. Among other features, the product comes with tools to establish secure membership registration, access control management and catalog aggregation. It also has business intelligence and reporting features to monitor and analyze activity on the site. The product supports XML and has a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol interface that will let Marketplace capture or share information with other e-commerce applications in the network. With its development tools, users can tie Marketplace Edition into back-end legacy systems or connect to business partners. It can also work with Lotus Development Corp.’s Sametime instant messaging technology, which will let buyers and sellers communicate with each other live. The product will be available in September on AIX; pricing starts at an estimated US$75,000 per processor.
Prices listed are in US currency.