Belmont, California-based Comergent Technologies Inc is poised to announce an internet-enabled channel commerce system, catchily named the Comergent Distributed E-Business System. Aimed a little higher than the XML systems being offered by companies like NetFish and WebMethods, executives say Comergent’s software addresses the problems faced by companies which are not disintermediating their business to sell directly to end-users. Instead, they say, their target customers want to make the most of channel partners. Comergent’s software is designed to help such companies manage the complicated web of relationships that result.
Comergent’s first big customer is Cisco Systems Inc. Its software package includes an XML messaging architecture not unlike those of NetFish and WebMethods, with a management layer, partner knowledge base, dynamic marketing system, product configurator and enterprise adapters built on top. The company is a keen participant in RosettaNet, executives say. It plans to roll RosettaNet technologies into its own products as they are released and tested. Engineers are also keeping a close eye on ExchangeNet, Microsoft’s BizTalk and Ariba’s Commerce XML, but there are no plans to implement XML-EDI any time soon. You can only track so many standards at a time, explained VP of product marketing Jonathan Faustine.
So why concentrate on the channel in a disintermediated world? We’ve heard a lot about channel disintermediation over the last few years, but from talking to our customers, we think the pendulum’s coming back a little bit the other way, explained president and CEO Jean Kovacs. We find a lot of our customers like Cisco are saying, ‘Hey, the channel is responsible for a huge part of my business. They add value in ways that I’m not going to add value, especially for small and medium businesses.’ They look on the channel as a real value add. If Kovacs has called the trend correctly, and if Comergent can catch it, the company could be one to watch. รก
