New Product Spotlight: April 28, 2004

IBM has made available WebSphere Commerce 5.6, a new version of its e-commerce software designed for tighter integration across multiple sales channels, comprehensive extended demand chain functionality, and single-platform support for multiple business models. According to the company, enhancements include Starter Stores that enable faster implementation of e-commerce sites, a new process that reduces the number of manual steps required for installation and migration by 70 percent, streamlined processes for segmenting a master catalog, and redesigned promotion and campaign management capabilities.

Language Analysis Systems, a maker of name-recognition software, introduces the LAS NameParser, a solution to help organizations parse ethnically diverse personal names from more than 200 countries into given names and surnames. The company says the NameParser targets the resolution of both inaccurate mapping of names to database fields, and the errors and data loss that result from incorrect input of "foreign" names. The solution is designed to enhance results within data hygiene and quality, CRM, data integration and warehousing, data marketing, and security applications.

Pivotal Veracity, an email delivery audit and management company, launched its new suite of delivery optimization tools--the eContent Scorer, eDelivery Tracker, and pvIQ Enterprise Platform. The tools enable permission-based direct marketers to monitor and manage the delivery of their email marketing, retention, and service communications, whether mailed from in-house systems or external vendors or any combination of the two, from a single platform. Operating independently of the mailer's deployment solution, the technology allows enterprises to ensure their legitimate email communications do not end up in the "bulkbox" or the "trashbox."

Mondosoft, a provider of enterprise search technology, released Mondosoft BehaviorTracking as a stand-alone search analytics tool. According to the company, the solution interfaces with any enterprise search engine to provide important information for sales and customer retention. BehaviorTracking works to eliminate the online message "item not found" by enabling the search engine to respond and to satisfy a customer request.

NextSale, a developer of CRM and SFA software, launched NextSale SFA, its debut SFA software suite. The package incorporates sales lead generation, data mining, sample and literature distribution, and quotation tools for the management of both long sales cycle operations with small sales teams and global organizations with a widely dispersed sales staff. The software also synchronizes functions like contact management and appointments with Microsoft Outlook.