News and Products.

`Points of Presence on Demand' with Topaz ActiveWatch

Mercury Interactive Corporation, the world's leading provider of Web performance management solutions, has launched a greatly enhanced version of Topaz ActiveWatch, its fully hosted Web performance monitoring e-service, that helps e-Businesses ensure a superior end user experience. Topaz ActiveWatch now offers breakthrough, patent-pending "Points of Presence (PoPs) on Demand" technology that enables e-Businesses to monitor the end user experience from any location it desires, providing IT staff with performance metrics that are as close to the end user as possible for faster, more accurate measurement and quicker resolution of performance problems. In addition, ActiveWatch adds the root cause analysis features found in Topaz to drill down to specific network or server components having performance problems for fast resolution before affecting the end user.

Using the extensive network infrastructures of ISP's such as AT&T, Qwest, GTS and others, Mercury Interactive can provide PoPs at over 500 locations worldwide, enabling ActiveWatch to measure Web performance from any number of customer-selected PoPs. www.mercuryinteractive.com

Web Server Certificates

Web server certificates delivering higher levels of trust and security to SSL-based (Secure Sockets Layer) e-commerce are available from ViaCode.

Trusted by browsers including Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, Web server certificates from ViaCode have, it is claimed, five features that enhance credibility. They are issued after authentication of the applicant by ViaCode , they support automatic on-line revocation checking, and can be valid for two years.

They also feature transparent semi-automatic renewal have direct UK support during business hours. ViaCode is working with global certification authority (CA) Entrust.net to deliver the service. ViaCode carries out authentication and billing of applicants while Entrust.net issues and manages the certificates. Bought on-line and normally issued within three days of application, a two-year certificate costs 419 [pounds sterling], a single-year certificate 249 [pounds sterling]. Sites can display the ViaCode Trust Seal which, when clicked once, shows visitors the status of the certificate. viacode. Tel:[phone]

Interactive Customer Contact

MATRAnct and iMediation have set up a technological and commercial partnership combining the M>WebTouch Web-based customer contact solution with the iChannel platform's ability to create sales, distribution and marketing channels on the Internet. This will enable iChannel users - dealers, rescuers and end-customers - to communicate by email or "chat" and obtain personalised solutions to suit specific requirements, iChannel provides businesses with the services required to build electronic marketplaces and create links with selected partners. Partners can combine the content of product catalogues online to build contextual offers. Internet users can then interact online with the offers presented and consult information without leaving, the business's or its partners site. iMediation monitors the activity of each partner and each end-client step by step to provide customers with detailed real-time data on the marketplace's activity which enables businesses to reconfigure partnership rules and offers, according to their partners' and customers' behaviour.

For example, Internet users wanting to buy car had to go first to the car manufacturer's site to choose a model and then to the dealer's site to check if it was available. Using iChannel, manufacturers can create virtual sites automatically by merging dealers' sites with their own site. M>WebTouch can then be used to monitor Internet user behaviour on these virtual sites and offer them a personalised service using the direct email and chat functions. www.imediation.com

ecBuilder Pro V 5.0

ecbuilder Pro is aimed at the mass-market, and enables users to build a Web site complete with online store, or to add an online store to an existing Web site. It costs 125.00 [pounds sterling] + VAT.

ecbuilder Pro has been designed as a one-stop-shop for small businesses, and contains everything needed to build, design, and operate an online store. This includes a 10,000-item catalogue, a shopping cart to process orders, security encryption, real-time credit card processing, and order management. The Web site is constructed using wizards and templates, and it takes around an hour to build a basic site. This can then be augmented and supplemented with graphics, video and sound clips, and other content. For advanced users, the Web site can be customised with HTML.

Users also have the freedom to use their own domain address (URL) and host the Web site with any Interact Service Provider (ISP) www.multiactive.co.uik

Buzz Button - Voice of The Internet

According to recent reports an estimated 70% of all online enquiries for purchases are not completed. The reasons cited include confusion and insufficient information. However 54% are still reticent about giving secure information, namely credit card details, over the net. The Buzz Button is an integrated Website button that when pushed provides the customer with an Internet based free phone facility. Hit the Buzz Button on a Web page and a form will automatically appear, requesting the callers phone number and the preferred time of day to be called back. The system will immediately send information from the Web page to the Buzz telecoms server which then initiates two simultaneous outbound calls; one to the customer and one to the supplier or call centre. The two calls are bridged together and the combined cost is charged to the supplier. If the supplier's phone is engaged or unanswered, the system will automatically send an email to inform them of the problem. It will then leave the customers details so the call can be returned at a more convenient time. The Buzz Button system includes an online Media Manager which allows the supplier to monitor the geographical origination and time of any enquiry as well as information about its own customer response system. The basic cost of the Buzz Button is 50 [pounds sterling] per button 5 [pounds sterling] per month management fee. Call rates are charged at 5p per minute within the UK. (Europe, Australasia and USA rates available at 7p per minute). For further information please visit the Buzz Networks Website at www.buzzbutton.co.uk.

EpicRealm Speeds Web by 80%

epicrealm, operator of a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) that enables businesses to increase download speeds from their Web site by up to 80%, has opened offices in the UK, Germany and Benelux.

E-businesses can use epicrealm's network to prioritise repeat customers so they have a more productive experience on their Web site. The time customers wait for transactions to be completed can be decreased even during peak periods of Internet use. Industry analysts state that 30% of customers will exit a site without buying if they are made to wait longer than four seconds, epicrealm's network addresses this issue.

EpicRealm caches static, dynamic and encrypted content. The company's global network lessens the risk of any single point of failure, with more than 1,400 servers and other network equipment currently installed world-wide. This network of data centres consists of numerous points-of-presence (POPs) positionedon major Internet backbone cities such as London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo and numerous cities throughout the US. www.epicrealm.com

E Analysis Tools Fail

In a new White Paper, Visual Insights concludes that traditional analysis tools are failing to respond to the demand for greater customer intimacy. Current software misses important trends buried in data, cannot answer `ad hoc' queries and is ineffective on multi-dimensional problems.

The paper, entitled `Visual Discovery: Website analysis that sees what others miss'. looks at what makes Web information useful, what key online variables it is essential to know and the cost of analysing Web site activity. It also identifies `Visual Discovery', a method of correlating information, displaying trends and connections hidden in data, as being the key to understanding online activity.

"Web retailers are spending an average of 29 [pounds sterling] per new customer acquisition - given these costs, companies are demanding a new level of accountability for their Web site investments," said Dr Stephen Eick, of Visual Insights author of the White Paper. "What's needed is a new `visitor-centric' analysis solution that offers a unified view of the customer. Visual Discovery does this by transforming data into dear `visual information portals' which present data in hundreds of different ways - this allows managers to identify business opportunities and act on them," he added.

The Paper explains the concept of how Visual Discovery can be used to help business managers make decisions about eBusiness strategy.

To obtain a copy of the White Paper, please visit: http:llwww.visualinsiehts.com/productsl ebusiness.asp? mode = White Papers

Progress Sonic MQ v 3.0

Progress Software has announced Progress SonicMQ 3.0, the next generation of its eBusiness Messaging infrastructure for the transport of business-critical data over the Internet.

Connectivity and Standards SonicMQ is based on the Javar Message Service (JMS) specification, which provides a common set of interfaces, massaging concepts and programming strategies. It also provides native support for the following Internet and enterprise standards: Internet protocols, including TCPIIP, HM and SSL, ntemet security via firewall tunneling, SSL, encryption and digital certificates, Java Message Service (JMS) compliance, Connectivity bridges: MQSeries, JMS-compliant massaging systems, SMTP, XML message type and DOM-capable client, Open administration API with SNMP support, 100% Java server, with Java, CONVActiveX and C clients.

SonicMQ Version 3.0 beta registration is available today at www.sonicMQcom. SonicMQ ships in two versions: SonicMQ Developer Edition, a free version allowing developers to build and test massaging applications; and SonicMQ Enterprise Edition, a fully featured product for deployment and complex development environments.

SonicMQ is certified for the following operating environments: Microsoft Windows NT, Sun Solaris, Linux, HP-UX and AIX. SonicMQ includes an embedded relational database and is certified to run with Oracle8i, Microsoft SQL Server V7.0 and Progress RDBMS 9. 1. www.progress.com

OMG Focus on Integration of EmergingTechnologies

At the Object Management Group's Technical Meeting Week in California, USA, OMG members set industry standards integrating XML, SOAP, C# and other emerging technologies with the organisation's established standards, CORBA and UML 

The OMG's UML specification is the industry standard for analysis and design. At this meeting, four Request for Papers (RFPS) were issued to progress the language to a 2.0 release. Concentrating on language infrastructure, language superstructure, Object Constraint Language (OCL), and UML Diagram Interchange, these efforts should increase both the applicability and expressiveness of this standard language. Task Forces of the OMG's Domain Technology Committee, standardising CORBA facilities in many fields including telecommunications, transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, and many others, also meet and advanced their own standards work during the week. www.omg.org