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WebSphere keeps world of e-commerce turning

Multicultural support, seamless integration bolster global e-commerce initiatives

By James R. Borck, InfoWorld, 03/16/01

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In the midst of an economic cooling, it can be pretty difficult to justify updating an existing commerce infrastructure. Nevertheless, IBM's WebSphere Commerce Suite Pro 5.1 delivers a solid vehicle for broadening revenue streams by leading global e-initiatives out of the stateside doldrums and across the big blue seas.

The Bottom Line

WebSphere Commerce Suite Pro 5.1

Business Case
This e-commerce component suite reduces time to market for deploying sites. Out-of-the-box integration eases setup requirements, and multicultural features enable global-commerce initiatives. Technology Case
WebSphere can be configured with very little effort or training. Building beyond the basics will demand an additional development environment, and catalog construction will benefit from a stronger toolset. Pros
  • Supports global commerce
  • Provides out-of-the-box functionality
  • Contains many wizard-driven elements
  • Has solid messaging, payment, and reporting capabilities
  • Is available in a much less expensive Start Edition
Cons
  • Is costly
  • Could benefit from more catalog management tools
  • Lacks integrated Java toolset
Cost
5,000 per processor, ,000 per store Platforms
Windows NT, Windows 2000, AIX, Solaris IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y.; (800) 426-2255; www.ibm.com


This Java-based, e-commerce solution is an infrastructure for building, deploying, and administering e-commerce sites. It can integrate with existing internal and partnered systems, which can be easily expanded with add-ons to meet future needs.

WebSphere Pro includes many enterprise-level provisions and tools, including support for auctions, business intelligence, personalization, and marketing campaigns. Although none of these additions are particularly new, IBM has done a great job of making these functions sophisticated enough to address the needs of maturing e-commerce.

Version 5.1's improved user-access control and easier administration will help lower TCO, and cookieless session management will address privacy concerns, thereby bolstering shopper confidence.

Although workability of the new catalog subsystem falls short of comparable offerings in Microsoft's Commerce Server, the suite goes a long way toward surmounting the idiosyncrasies of conducting business beyond native borders and allows broad functionality to be maintained in a single, easily managed site. Therefore, WebSphere Commerce Suite Pro 5.1 earned a score of Very Good for consideration as an enterprise e-commerce platform.

At first glance, we found the setup procedure more streamlined than those of earlier versions. Installing the various suite components, including Commerce Server, Application Server, DB2 Universal Database, Payment Manager, and the HTTP server (IBM's adaptation of the Apache Web server) took just half an hour.

If you prefer, WebSphere can also be configured using alternate Web servers, such as Netscape iPlanet and Lotus Domino, or an Oracle8i database.

There are some sizable system resource requirements to consider, and we found no room for skimping on them. IBM lists the minimum system configuration as an Intel Pentium III 733-MHz processor with 512 MB of memory, but we would recommend something with more muscle, as response times from this configuration proved slightly sluggish.


For more enterprise computing news, visit InfoWorld. Story copyright InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.

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