SCIQUEST.COM's B2B E-MARKETPLACE
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THE TECHNOLOGY
In September 1998, SciQuest implemented the OBI[1] compliant Net. commerce
solution. The B2B e-marketplace (See Exhibit I) was developed using Web Sphere
Commerce Suite and DB2 Universal Database for AIX[2] . A Web Sphere Application
Server[3] was used to develop applications that supported the company's
back-end business processes. According to Andrews, "In our industry, you need
the ability to handle a high volume of new information quickly. Web Sphere
Commerce Suite and DB2 Universal Database enabled us to do just that, making it
possible for us to open our doors to millions of potential customers within
weeks."
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At the heart of SciQuest's online catalog was DB2,
which consolidated and stored information on more than one million items
from approximately 600 vendors. DB2 stored all of SciQuest's
business-critical information, vendor information and customer purchase
histories for tracking orders. This enabled SciQuest to eliminate much of
its customers' procurement paperwork and to give the customers a one-stop
solution for all of their laboratory supply needs. Rob Fusillo, chief
information officer at SciQuest.com said, "From the outset, our goal was
to utilize the Web to both reduce transaction costs and increase the value
of the average order by allowing customers to purchase from a single
vendor."To host the e-marketplace, SciQuest used RS/6000 Enterprise
Server Model H70 servers and the HTTP[4] server. Front-end web queries and
transactions were connected to enterprise wide information using Net.Data
and Java servlets[5] . |
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Net.Data macros[6] and JavaServer Pages (JSP)[7]
delivered the results to the user's Web browser. The WebSphere Commerce Suite
gave SciQuest the flexibility to employ more advanced technologies, such as
JSPs and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs)[8] , while simultaneously supporting
existing technology applications such as those developed using Net.Data. This
helped the company to deploy new applications and build more functionality
without replacing existing infrastructure.
The WebSphere Commerce Suite solution was connected to SciQuest's back-office
order processing and financial reporting applications using the MQSeries[9] .
The MQSeries helped SciQuest to dramatically reduce development time,
integrating its internal enterprise-wide applications as well as supplier
back-end systems with front-end web transactions. To protect its critical
information from unauthorized access over the web, SciQuest used an eNetwork
firewall[10] .
Once the B2B e-marketplace was fully in place, customers could, by logging on
to the site with a user name and password, conduct product searches, compare
prices and make purchases (See Exhibit II). Individual purchase orders were
made for each vendor, the customer's credit status was checked and the account
history was updated. Soon, SciQuest user sessions increased significantly,
reaching more than 100,000 per month in October 1999. As the order management
system was not designed to handle this kind of traffic, SciQuest began facing
problems in handling the orders. Explaining the problem, Anthony Francis, VP of
global operations at SciQuest said, "Our buyers fill their shopping carts with
multiple line items and you have to manage each one of them and know their
individual status, whether it's on back order or consolidated into one
shipment. This needs a very robust order management platform, especially when
you consider we have no warehouses but have to connect to our suppliers'
warehouses."
[1] Open buying on the Internet (OBI) is an industry standard outlining a common set of business requirements for purchasing transactions in B2B electronic commerce.
[2] DB2 Universal Database is a Web-ready relational database management system. Together with Internet technology it makes information easily accessible to companies implementing e-commerce, ERP, SCM and CRM solutions.
[3] It handles all application operations between users and an organization's backend business applications or databases. Application servers are typically used for complex transaction-based applications. To support high-end needs, an application server has to have built-in redundancy, monitors for high-availability, high-performance distributed application services and support for complex database access.
[4]HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) servers utilize
the underlying protocol used by the Internet, which defines how messages are
formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take
in response to various commands.
[5]A form of server-based Java programs that operates in conjunction with a web
server and offers an alternative to using Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and
server application programming interfaces (SAPIs) to communicate with web server
processes.
[6]Net.Data macros aid real-time transaction processing.
[7]JSP helps in separating the HTML coding from the business logic in the Web
pages. It can also be used to access reusable components, such as servlets,
JavaBeans, and Java-based Web applications.
[8]Java beans are portable, reusable Java software components. EJBs extend the
Java bean concept from the client domain to the server domain. EJBs enable the
usage of Java technology into a robust, scalable environment that can support
mission-critical enterprise information systems.
[9]MQ Series provides the base messaging service for servers and clients.
[10]A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private
network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a
combination of both. They are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet
users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially
intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the
firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the
specified security criteria.
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THE FUTURE
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