Mercantec is considered as the industry's leading low-end multi-host solution but it just only provides a component of a full functional eCommerce solution - the shopping cart. The companies focuses on front-end commerce processing and integration without getting involved in the mire of distributed object platforms, catalog publishing tools and dynamic page rendering.

This product is oriented toward adding shopping cart functionality (storefront selection and check-out) to sites where product catalogs have already been published in static or dynamic form by another tool.

Mercantec is often criticized for being shelfware because it requires frequent scripting and customization and it offers minimal cataloging functionality. Mercantec is working closely with Allaire's Cold Fusion to flesh out greater functionality but such an integrated product is not yet available.

iCat --- E-Commerce Suite

Recently bought by Intel, it seems that the company couldn't justify its strategic within the investor community. ICat's move into the commerce hosting market as a service provider not a product provider turned out to be a bad decision because the market for these kind of service was to demanding and sophisticated. That's why iCat couldn't keep up with competitors such as Yahoo. So far iCat's claims to have over 1,000 store on the Internet built with its products but this lacks behind the deployment of Yahoo stores (1,500 -2,000) and the license sold by INTERSHOP (8,500).

The product architecture is CSP-insufficient and iCat risks loosing its developer base. The lack of technical grace and odd programming requirements will be a barrier to a forceful CSP entry.

The bottom line: iCat offers CSPs a pathetic technology strategy for effectively promoting and managing a merchant services business. The majority of the company’s stronger features are supplied by partners and the true degree of integration is suspect.

Microsoft --- Site Server, Commerce Edition

Microsoft SiteServer and IIS offer the essential ingredients for ISVs to develop Internet commerce applications. The essential elements are all strung together with Active Server Pages and COM.

Alone, the basic elements of the Microsoft solution are not the best of their class. But when combined, the Microsoft components from their ad server, session management, indexing, targeting, order processing pipeline, commerce interchange pipeline, operating system, web server, and analysis tools are good.

BroadVision --- One-to-One Commerce

BroadVision is more and more pursuing different markets than INTERSHOP such as vertical markets, financial companies. It's approach of one-to-one marketing, relationship management and eCommerce clearly distinguish this company from other vendors in the market and contributes to their differentiation to companies such as InterWorld, Open Market, etc.

One-to-One Commerce is an application provided by BroadVision that was written on top of their One-to-One Server platform and is one instantiation of using their unique user profiling and content management technology.

IBM --- Net.Commerce Hosting Server

Currently IBM's Net.Commerce is our toughest competitor in the enterprise (Pro version by IBM) and in the hosting market (Hosting server by IBM). With its global advertising campaign promoting several reference customers such REI, Macy's, and Nordstrom, IBM is building a huge mind share with in the industry. We assume a high awareness of IBM's products in the market and expect therefore more fights with IBM for eCommerce customers.

So far IBM had less success to penetrate the eCommerce software market. With 1,000 licenses sold, it is more or less playing in the lower middlefield in terms of deployed on-line stores. According to INTERSHOP internal source, INTERSHOP has over 8,000 licenses sold, which is a clearly sign of the acceptance and success in the market.

Net.Commerce is a suite of tools for building, maintaining, and deploying demand-side commercial applications. It is sold as a stand-alone product with connectivity to key IBM transactional middleware such as IBM's Transaction Server (formerly CICS), MQ Series, and major ERP systems.

Net.Commerce lacks many of the out-of-the -box storefront management features of Intershop or iCat. But more important for large sites, Net.Commerce is tool-oriented, and requires IS and system integrators to combine it with other transactional software and demand-side applications to build an EC solution.

OpenMarket --- LiveCommerce

OpenMarket is clearly positioning the solution as a complete enterprise application with the newest release of LiveCommerce (January 19^th '99). New features such as ERP Integration APIs and the Sun Solaris availability could help OpenMarket to enter the enterprise market and gain its piece of the cake.

The majority of the storefront management tools and features of the OpenMarket product line are supported by LiveCommerce. However, Live Commerce is not intended for deployment by CSPs nor to small and medium sized merchants in multi-hosted configurations. Rather, it is a sales and marketing automation solution that accompanies OM-Transact implemented as a Business to Business, and/ or singular, targeted solution for larger businesses that are selling office supplies and ORM-type purchases.

Despite the success of OpenMarket’s direct sales force, OpenMarket customers (Large Telcos and ISPs) have had extreme difficulty deploying merchant solutions due to hard-to-use and often non-existant merchant tools that present a barrier to deployment as well as high support costs.

OpenMarket --- Shop Site TX

In October '99 OpenMarket announced its newest version of ShopSite, ShopSite TX, a solution which combines quick, easy, and inexpensive storefront creation with the Internet commerce infrastructure of Open Market’s Transact. The main target market for this product are ISPs or Telcos who are already using OM's Transact Server as foundation for the eCommerce systems.

Open Market's ShopSite has still a weak market position but it might increase its market share in the low-end market through OpenMarket's sales and partner channels. According to Dataquest, OpenMarket already sold 8,500 licenses to merchants through ISPs.

Although Open Market's ShopSite can support thousands of SKUs, the product is extremely low-end. It has virtually no targeting capabilities, minimal systems integration, limited order processing, payment, and CSP configuration options.

Oracle --- Internet Commerce Server

Oracle's Internet Commerce Server is loosing importance in the market. The company hasn't released any new product updates for months. Its importance for eCommerce is on back-end where Oracle is the major provider of database for eCommerce systems.

Oracle's Internet Commerce Server (ICS) delivers most of the core features for demand-side commerce application platforms. Oracle will leverage core database technology, a new object framework (the Oracle Network Computing Architecture), and its strong professional services organization to serve high-end commercial web sites.

Pandesic --- E-Business Solution

On the January 18^th '99 Pandesic announced the availability of Version 3.0 of Pandesic's eBusiness Solution. New features include use of Microsoft's ASP technology, Developer Kit for third-party integration, new marketing and merchandising tools, customer service application, etc. Some of the new customers mentioned are GrocerOnline, DVD Express, and Wild Oats.

Although the solution (hardware, software, services) comes at a reasonable price and good deployment time, it is still lacking behind other vendors in terms of deployment. So far Pandesic cannot name any big brand who was willing to go with their eCommerce solution. Most of the stores deployed are smaller ones that, in my opinion, only have a bad shopping experience.

Short of inventory management and potentially irrelevant accounting system resources via SAP, the Pandesic solution is still in its infancy. It lacks genuine storefront management tools, personalization, basic cataloging functionality, and systems integration.

The market reality would suggest that the low end neither demands, nor requires, complete integration with high-end systems. Further, the architecture will not suit larger companies that often have a parallel ERP, accounting, and inventory system (requiring custom integration, not a shrink-wrapped applications) and it may not scale well in CSP configurations in order to meet their pricing and support requirements.