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PA e-Comm News January 31

ADVERTISERS OF THE WEEK

According to eBay, they and Sony Pictures Television plan to pipe an eBay-inspired TV show into U.S. living rooms in the second half of this year. This will be an hour-long program that they will syndicate to local stations in a magazine-style format that's a mixture of shows like "Entertainment Tonight," "Ripley's Believe it or Not" and "Antiques Roadshow." Live auctions are not seen as part of the programming. The host: former Miss Florida, Molly Pesce, of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." Stations that air the show will earn a commission on all items sold through Web sites designed for the stations by eBay and eBay will pay $6 for every person who joins eBay via a television station Web site. 

Oracle says that it has decided to extend technical support for a popular version of its business-management software. The company had planned to stop supporting version 10.7 of its business applications software at the end of June of this year but has decided to continue providing a limited level of support until June 30, 2004. Without the extension, thousands of companies were facing an ultimatum of either rushing to upgrade to the most recent release of the product or losing support for their Oracle business systems. This extended support is more limited than Oracle's standard level of support; for instance, it does not include patches to correct newly discovered bugs or annual updates for payroll and taxes for its accounting software. Members of the Oracle Applications User Group had lobbied Oracle for extended support for these business applications, which help companies with critical processes such as bookkeeping, human resources and inventory tracking.

Over the past three years, Google has rocketed from tiny startup to the top of the Internet search heap because of its superior search results. Some experts assert that Google now serves 75% of all Web search queries and has become one of the most powerful Web companies in the world. But, after making it to the top, it can be mighty hard to stay there. Advertisers love Google, too and they supply two-thirds of its revenue by purchasing keywords on Google.com and Google's network of affiliates, including America Online. Owning a keyword allows the advertiser to place simple text spots on pages returned for searches containing that keyword. The ultimate evidence of Google's success? The name has become a verb in common conversation, like Xerox or Hoover. However, 2003 could be the toughest year yet for the world's favorite search engine as witnessed by Yahoo! renewing its deal which pays Google to provide Web search results to the portal's surfers but removed the "exclusive" part of the contract. That means Yahoo can use any other search provider if it chooses. Also, recently Overture won a series of key contracts in the paid-advertising technology area, including a deal to be the exclusive results provider to CNN and CNN's various online properties. And, Verity, which has 1,700 customers, announced a deal to purchase the corporate-search assets of Inktomi. Verity makes sophisticated search and classification software targeted at the higher end of the market -- well above Google's primary niche as a simple install-and-forget search appliance.

And then, Yahoo announced plans to buy Inktomi's Web-search business, which showed that Yahoo's earlier nonexclusive deal with Google signaled a break for independence from the Web's biggest search engine.

Security experts say that the worm that exploited vulnerability in Microsoft's SQL Server database software and spread rapidly through the Internet over the weekend was the worst attack since Code Red. Microsoft issued a patch last July for the vulnerability the worm exploits but the worm, known as SQL Slammer, was able to spread because many network administrators had not yet installed the fix. Microsoft re-released its July security bulletin in response to the attack, but said customers who installed the patch earlier do not need an updated fix. Because the Slammer worm does not spread through e-mail, most home users' machines were not affected by the attack; however, PCs that use the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine, such as Office XP Developer Edition and Visual Studio .NET, are vulnerable.

Siebel Systems will create software specifically designed to run on IBM's WebSphere application server. The deal signals Siebel's willingness to work with IBM's Java-based application server software and provides an open standard for connecting and integrating applications through the network, whether they're packaged applications or components of applications. SAP recently announced a new product, NetWeaver, that allows SAP customers to use software development and middleware tools from IBM, such as the Java-based WebSphere, as well as Microsoft .Net products. Siebel also covered its bases by recently signing a deal to tie its customer relationship management software to Microsoft's .Net architecture.

eBay has launched a new site, Business Marketplace, that puts auction and store listings in one place where they had previously been distributed throughout the auctioneer's Web site. Some listings include vertical industry marketplaces, office technology, wholesale lots and marketplace services such as escrow and insurance offers. Several technology manufacturers have opened shops on eBay, and Accenture recently launched a special service that helps companies sell excess inventory on the site.

The U.S. economy was not kind to offline retailers during the 2002 holiday season but e-commerce showed considerable strength in the same holiday period. Can online selling emerge with a new starring role as the economy recovers? Instead of being viewed as a profit center, ecommerce is being used as a complement to catalog and brick-and-mortar sales channels, probably a more realistic assessment of what its role can be. 
 

PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The following is a listing of recently published technology procurement opportunities with various governmental entities. We hope our readers take the opportunity to investigate these postings and increase their business:

GSA - Federal Technology Service (FTS)
Information Technology Service (10TR)
70 -- 5086RFQ
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/GSA/FTS/10TR/5086RFQ/listing.html

DOT - Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Headquarters
99--Broad Information Technology Services Contract II (BITS II) Solicitation 15, Solicitation 08, Solicitation 06, Solicitation 07, Solicitation 09, Solicitation 14, Solicitation 13, Solicitation 12, Solicitation 11, Solicitation 10 http://www.eps.gov/spg/DOT/FAA/HQ/2887/listing.html

DISA - Acquisition Directorate
DITCO-Scott
D -- IBM Software License and Maintenance
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/DISA/D4AD/DITCO/DCA200-03-R-5011/listing.html

DON - Naval Sea Systems Command
NSWC Crane Division
D--ON-LINE INFORMATION DATA BASE
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/DON/NAVSEA/N00164/N0016403R0019/listing.html

DOL - Bureau of Labor Statistics
Procurement and Property Management
D -- Professional Services for Software Development
Synopsis http://www.eps.gov/spg/DOL/BLS/WashingtonDC/BLS-03-06/listing.html

NEWS & NOTES is a service of the PA e-Commerce Association. Please forward this e-mail to anyone else who might be interested in the content or in learning more about the Association. Remember to visit our website @ www.paecomm.org. or give us a call at 800-497-0809.

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