InformationWeek

WebSphere Commerce Suite has evolved from IBM's previous-generation Net.Commerce offering into a packaged bundle that includes all the tools you need to build sophisticated Web applications for sell-side commerce. IBM also offers versions of WebSphere Commerce Suite for marketplace and ASP applications.

We reviewed WebSphere Commerce Suite as part of our comparative assessment of E-commerce platforms and found the product to be very feature-rich, with deep functional capabilities that many of our clients are asking for.

But this flexibility comes at a cost. Building applications requires the use of numerous product modules that aren't especially well-integrated or intuitive, even though the product is positioned as a suite. Thus, companies adopting WebSphere Commerce Suite will spend considerable time developing applications and should plan on having highly skilled (and expensive) programmers on hand for customization.

The good news is, WebSphere Commerce Suite comes packaged with the WebSphere Application Server, which provides a scalable and reliable run-time environment, and can be readily integrated with IBM's MQSeries middleware platform for integrating other application environments. For companies already standardizing on such technologies, WebSphere Commerce Suite is a logical choice.

WebSphere Commerce Suite is available in Starter and Professional editions. The Starter package runs on Windows NT only, while the Professional package supports Windows NT, IBM AIX, and Sun Solaris. Support for IBM's AS/400 and OS/390 operating environments is planned for later this year. The system uses IBM DB2 or Oracle as the database, with connections via Open Database Connectivity and Java Database Connectivity application interfaces.

Architecturally, WebSphere Commerce Suite is designed to be scalable and reliable. Multiple servers can be set up in a clustered environment. However, the Web server and application server must run on the same machine, with no ability to position a firewall between the two, which some Web sites may need for security reasons. Load balancing is handled by a TCP/IP router.

The system does a good job of maintaining state and user session information, with no affinity to a particular server, so if one machine goes down, the session can resume on another.

WebSphere Commerce Suite uses a C++ component architecture, which contributes to code reusability. Java support is limited to Java Server Pages at the presentation layer, but doesn't yet support Enterprise JavaBeans or the Java 2 Enterprise Edition specification, which would make the system more open and bring greater code reuse, maintainability, and integration.

WebSphere Commerce Suite can leverage IBM's MQSeries middleware layer to tie into line-of-business applications and legacy systems.

WebSphere Commerce Suite's run-time environment provides a rich set of components and commerce capabilities. The package includes, among other things, a DB2 database, the Payment Manager module, an HTTP server, and an administration tool.

The Professional edition includes modules for personalization, auctions, and the slick Product Advisor, which can help shoppers focus in on products for purchase, even if they're not sure what they're looking for.

In terms of commerce features, WebSphere Commerce Suite has a wide range of capabilities. Shoppers can be enrolled in real-time or in batch mode. The catalog is flexible, supporting different attributes and hierarchies and enabling products to be included in multiple categories. Other features include order processing, pricing calculations, partial orders, and multiple ship-to addresses. Auctioning capabilities are included out-of-the-box in the Professional edition.

However, there are still some major pieces lacking. For example, customer self-service is limited beyond the ability to check the status of an order. Shippers can't communicate with customer-service representatives in a real-time dialogue, view frequently asked questions, or participate in a discussion database.

In addition, customers can't set up their own custom catalogs. WebSphere also offers limited reporting capabilities for merchants. No detailed commerce activity reporting is available out-of-the-box.

From a development standpoint, WebSphere Commerce Suite offers a variety of tools in its build-time environment, including the Catalog Architect (which IBM was unable to demonstrate for us) and the WebSphere Commerce Studio. The latter provides a wide array of tools for designing pages, applets, and animation. In addition, a Store Creator wizard simplifies the process of setting up a basic storefront.

The good news is that we found WebSphere Commerce Suite's many utilities to be highly flexible and functional. In addition, custom programming can be used to further customize and extend WebSphere Commerce applications.

The bad news is that we found development to be extremely complex. The various development and design tools are not intuitive, and they use inconsistent interfaces. In addition, programming is a requirement if you want to include any sort of sophistication or advanced functionality in your applications, such as product promotions.

WebSphere Commerce Suite is definitely a technologist's environment. It allows you to do a lot, but it takes a lot of effort. Don't expect marketing managers or general business personnel to play much of a role in E-commerce application ownership. The IT department will have to own the applications.

While the new solution retains the power of Net .Commerce, the package includes many other tools as well. For example, the Professional edition of WebSphere Commerce Suite comes with the DB2 database, DB2 Text Extender for indexing and searching, an HTTP server, a payment server, a directory server, and the WebSphere Application Server.

WebSphere Commerce Suite doesn't need to integrate with third-party technologies or application servers, because the entire development and run-time environment is provided in a single package.

In addition, WebSphere Commerce Suite can leverage IBM's middleware platform, MQSeries, bringing legacy and line-of-business integration to the platform. Strategically, this gives IBM a complete package for commerce applications, all from a single vendor.

However, IBM still has some work to do in order to deliver on this strategy. For example, many of WebSphere Commerce Suite's functions are still based on the Net.Data C++ code in Net.Commerce. The new WebSphere application server is Java-based, but the C++-based WebSphere Commerce Suite hasn't been re-architected to take full advantage of its bundled application server.

WebSphere Commerce Suite is a capable system for building and running E-commerce applications. The Starter edition is par-ticularly attractive, providing a robust and reasonably priced solution for companies that want to get simple commerce applications into production.

However, the Professional edition of WebSphere Commerce Suite is a complex suite of many components that aren't well-integrated or intuitive. The components are there, but custom development will require skilled programmers. In addition, IBM must address WebSphere Commerce Suite's lack of full support for Java.

Ultimately, if WebSphere Commerce Suite is to be IBM's flagship platform for E-business, it needs to do a better job of addressing the needs of business users, instead of limiting itself to a programmer's environment.