InformationWeek

And Ariba will shortly unveil its XML Interoperability Bus Architecture, a framework that lets third-party software be easily plugged into the platform using standard XML interfaces. Furthermore, it will let specific business processes be defined for end-to-end commerce and order fulfillment.

Commerce One For its part, Commerce One is trying to stay a step ahead of competitors and has systematically built hundreds of business components on top of its robust XML-based transaction engine-a product that it inherited when it acquired Veo Systems for nearly $40 million in early 1999.

Chuck Donchess, executive VP and chief strategy officer at Commerce One, says the standards-based XML transaction engine has enabled the company to integrate best-of-breed third-party products, such as RightWorks' and Remedy's E-procurement packages, SAP's ERP products, and Extricity's integration software, underneath its Global Trading Web portal.

Commerce One is in the process of developing a strategic sourcing module using a technology it acquired from catalog-aggregation vendor Mergent, which it bought for more than $200 million earlier this year. Commerce One will add customer-relationship management software to its product mix, but probably not through acquisition.

Oracle Oracle is capitalizing on its strength in the database, supply-chain, and ERP arenas by adding new functions to its E Business Suite and CRM module. Oracle uses the Open Applications Group's XML methodology to add third-party software links to its transaction engine.

Lou Unkeless, Oracle's senior director of worldwide marketing, says the company's recently announced E-commerce modules for industry and private exchanges soon will have third-party logistics and payment packages. OracleExchange.com, a marketplace launched in February, handles procurement for maintenance, repair, and operations supplies.

SAP ERP leader SAP has also jumped into the E-commerce market, leveraging its traditional expertise in supply chains, manufacturing, and CRM with procurement functions. According to Gregory Rietzke, VP of SAP's business-to-business procurement group, the company plans to provide direct procurement and contract management in addition to strategic sourcing to round out its offerings. Much like other vendors, SAP uses third-party packages, such as the popular webMethods, to link to suppliers and partners. It uses products from Clarify, a Nortel Networks company, to handle call-center CRM.

IBM In an effort to grab a bigger piece of the E-business market, IBM recently announced a tripartite alliance with Ariba and i2 to gain E-procurement and supply-chain management functions. In addition, IBM is improving its commerce transactional engine by adding marketplace capability to its WebSphere Commerce suite.

IBM deploys its B2B Integrator software to tie to third-party software, including offerings from Siebel Systems, and E-Credit.com, an online financial network for logistics functions. David Liederbach, VP of IBM's E-commerce software division, says that aside from its commerce, databases, and server technologies, IBM brings to marketplaces the huge service and support power of its Global Services organization-138,000 people across 165 countries-that competitors don't have.

The whirlwind of consolidation is likely to continue, underscored by the $9.3 billion merger in March of i2 Technologies and Aspect Development Inc., a software maker of decision support and content aggregation. Also,VerticalNet acquired Tradeum for nearly $500 million, and the Internet Capital Group purchased a 51% equity in RightWorks for more than $600 million earlier this year.

Most of the consolidation and development work is going in the right direction, but "don't expect any single vendor to have all the pieces yet," says AMR's Mitchell; there's a lot more heavy lifting to be done.