Application platforms must constantly evolve to keep up with the breakneck pace of change in e-business. A year or two ago, Web-enabled businesses were content if their applications and underlying operating systems could handle online catalogs and transactions. Today they're looking for more--capabilities such as personalization and content management, specialized business-to-business (B2B) applications, and highly scalable, reliable infrastructures.
How can an e-business assemble a Web-centric architecture that will work in the short term, yet remain flexible and sophisticated enough to accommodate the rapid evolution of technologies and business models in the Net economy?
There are three basic approaches a small- to medium-sized company can take in crafting an e-business platform:
A "closed" architecture based on the proprietary applications of a specific vendor or group of vendors.
An "open" system based on common standards and development tools accessible to everyone.
A hybrid solution made up of components that are both open and closed.
Each architectural approach has its pros and cons, but there's a definite migration underway from the old closed model towards more modular and flexible solutions based on open standards. The shift is occurring because Web-savvy companies demand it; open standards render e-business platform software more versatile, faster to install, and more likely to do exactly what a company needs it to do in conducting business online.
BroadVision found this out the hard way. The Redwood City, Calif. firm, a long-time leader in e-commerce applications with its proprietary software based largely on C++, has suffered a reversal of fortune lately. Last summer BroadVision lost the American Airlines AA.com account to Art Technology Group (ATG), a rival that has embraced open Web development architecture.
Microsoft.Net: a closed case
Microsoft exemplifies the time-honored, proprietary approach to writing software. The Redmond juggernaut's .Net offerings, an extension of all the closed applications that have come before, appeal to the vast number of mid-market companies that are familiar and comfortable with its products.
One such company is Haystack Toys of St. Louis, a marketer of authentic toys. After spending several months and thousands of dollars in consulting fees developing a Solaris/Oracle-based platform for buying and distribution, the company faced cost overruns and the risk of missing a critical deadline. The company switched to the Microsoft .NET platform, and with the help of a local Microsoft-Certified integrator, built a complete solution from scratch in less than four months. The project cost less than $800,000--significantly less than what Haystack would have paid for the Unix platform.
Microsoft's approach revolves around Windows 2000, Microsoft Site Server 3 Commerce Edition, and BizTalk Server 2000, which provides rules-based document routing, transformation, and tracking infrastructure. The integrator used BizTalk Server to link the company's accounting system with its Unix-based fulfillment partner, and added custom COM components written in Visual Basic and Visual C++.
"I firmly believe that the Microsoft platform is a much better choice for rapidly developing complex e-commerce solutions," says Mark Sundt, chief technology officer for Haystack. What's more, he notes that "there's a much larger pool of qualified talent available for the Microsoft platform"--graduates of Microsoft's certification programs.
New horizons
Open solutions represent a marked departure from business as usual in software development, a recognition that development speed, malleability, and choice are good things. ATG is a leading proponent of the open school in e-business platforms. Last November Forrester Research ranked ATG first among 10 leading Internet commerce-platform vendors.
The company has built its Dynamo Commerce Suite around Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), a component architecture that extends Java's write-once, run-anywhere capability to reusable development components. EJB also connects via bridges to other component models such as ActiveX. Software components that use JavaBeans APIs are thus portable to containers that include Internet Explorer, Visual Basic, Microsoft Word, Lotus Notes, and others. All this makes it easy for developers to extend Dynamo-based commerce sites and integrate third-party components.
Envera LLC, a B2B exchange for the chemical industry based in Richmond, Va., has also taken an open approach in platform design, melding several different technologies based on open standards.
While Net markets are typically built with e-procurement applications such as those from Ariba Inc. or Commerce One, Envera created its trading portal with B2B integration software from webMethods Inc. and XMLSolutions Corp. Oracle and IBM contributed database and transaction software.
Something old, something new
Open and closed platforms are not necessarily an either/or proposition; sometimes it's possible to mix and match elements of both strategies. Take e/Pearle, the European Web optical-products retailer, for example. The company's sites are powered by Blue Martini Software Inc.'s Customer Interaction System, a commerce server that forms a foundation for all of e/Pearle's key direct-selling channels, including a call-center application. Blue Martini's solution combines proprietary C++ and Java-based code.
In similar fashion, WebSphere Commerce Suite 4.1 from IBM has evolved into a hybrid product from IBM's previous-generation Net.Commerce offering. WebSphere Commerce Suite, released last month for Linux in its Standard and Advanced editions, comes packaged with the WebSphere Application Server, which provides a scalable and reliable run-time environment. The Commerce Suite can be readily integrated with middleware systems and other application environments (including EDI, IBM CICS, IBM MQSeries, IBM IMS products and SAP R/3), making it a logical choice for companies already standardizing on those technologies.
The Standard Edition of WebSphere Application Server supports Java servlets, JavaServer Pages and XML, while the Advanced Edition is a high-performance EJB server for implementing EJB components that incorporate business logic. An Enterprise Edition integrates EJB and CORBA components to build high-volume e-business applications. However, it should be noted that WebSphere uses a C++ architecture, and Java support is limited to Java Server Pages at the presentation layer. The product also doesn't yet support Enterprise JavaBeans or the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification.
Spare me the details
Whether you believe in a closed, open, or hybrid approach to developing commerce platforms, there's a way to reduce the headaches involved--let somebody else do the thinking for you.
While most large businesses continue to build and host their own e-commerce sites, around 20 percent have found it expedient to outsource at least part of that task. A year ago Network Computing and Netcraft, Inc. surveyed Fortune 500 companies, asking them to name their favorite hosting entities for e-commerce outsourcing. Eight commerce hosting companies came out on top: AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Digex, Exodus Communications, GTE Internetworking, IBM, Sprint and UUnet. Of the hosts, Sprint took top honors as both a collocation vendor (providing hosting infrastructure) and a full-service provider of networking and applications management.
But new players are constantly entering the e-commerce hosting arena. One is Genuity, Inc., a Burlington, Mass. application service provider that offers an integrated network platform called Black Rocket. Genuity claims that this product does everything except knock on customers' doors: run applications, manage servers, distribute content, measure performance, monitor Internet connectivity, ensure security. Each Black Rocket is designed to meet the specific technical requirements of a Net market or e-commerce initiative, and can be rolled out within 10 business days.
Keep your options open
In the end the only constant in e-business platforms is that their development is in a continual state of flux. Given that fact, a company would be wise to choose a platform that allows it do business with anybody and change direction on a dime if necessary. This applies whether you are building in-house or buying from an outsourcer. In this regard, the open-standards approach has much to recommend it.
Contributing Editor Don Fitzwater is a principal partner in Interface Solutions, a Minneapolis consulting firm.
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