InformationWeek

HP has licensed vJungle.com's OpenEx technology, which provides the platform for integrated applications and services based on the Extensible Markup Language. HP has begun offering vJungle.com's OpenEx services--including E-mail, bookkeeping, an online calendar, a Web-site builder, Web hosting, chat, file-sharing, and data-storage management--at a site co-branded with vJungle.com called Business Customer Center. Later this year, HP plans to add to the site its own services that integrate with the OpenEx platform, including payroll applications, procurement applications, unified messaging, and online printing.

Deepak Amin, CEO and founder of vJungle.com, says OpenEx was designed to promote the integration of business applications and services by third-party vendors. When a small business enters data for any of the provided services, "agents" in the OpenEx platform automatically distribute that data throughout the system. For example, an invoice generated by OpenEx print-shop services will be automatically added to a small business' online bookkeeping ledger. Some small-business sites, Amin says, are little more than information portals. "It's trivial to throw up a Web site with a bunch of links to other service providers--any high school student can do that," he says.

Other PC manufacturers, including Compaq, Dell Computer, and IBM offer small-business portals that provide links to partner services. But analysts say HP's approach is unique. "It's not convenient for a small-business owner to have to enter the same information into 10 different Web-based services," says Laurie McCabe, VP at Summit Strategies. "By partnering with vJungle.com, HP is doing something a little bit ahead of the curve compared to the other major PC manufacturers."

In another example of the integrated services, if a business purchases a Web domain name or additional disk space from the Business Customer Center, the center will automatically record the purchase in the business' online accounting package.