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IBM WebSphere Commerce is a software platform framework for e-commerce, including marketing, sales, customer and order processing functionality in a tailorable, integrated package. It is a single, unified platform which offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), with businesses (B2B
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...

), indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...

), or all of these simultaneously. WebSphere Commerce is a customizable, scalable and high availability solution built on the Java - Java EE
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition or Java EE is widely used platform for server programming in the Java programming language. The Java platform differs from the Java Standard Edition Platform in that it adds libraries which provide functionality to deploy fault-tolerant, distributed, multi-tier...

 platform using open standard
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and may also have various properties of how it was designed . There is no single definition and interpretations vary with usage....

s, such as XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

, and Web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...

s.

Versions

It all started back in 1996, with the product called Net.Commerce, starting with versions V1.0, V2.0, V3.1, and V3.2. In 2001 the Net.Commerce product was renamed to WebSphere Commerce Suite, releasing versions V4.1 and V5.1. In 2002 WebSphere Commerce V5.4 was created, followed by V5.5 in 2003 and V5.6 in 2004. The last major release versions are:
  • In 2005 Version 5.6.1
  • In 2006 Version 6.0
  • In 2009 Version 7.0


There are three editions of WebSphere Commerce. Each edition provides an increasing set of functionality in comparison:
  • Express
  • Professional
  • Enterprise (note: this was previously known as WebSphere Commerce Business Edition)


Since WebSphere Commerce is a highly customizable solution, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 provides an integrated development environment which can be used to build and test your customizations, extend the business logic, change the look and feel of your website, and create new logic to meet your requirements. The product used for developing and customizing the platform is called IBM WebSphere Commerce Developer. So there are also 3 editions of the developer product, matching their runtime environments (so called WebSphere Commerce Developer Express, Professional, and Enterprise).

As with other IBM products, WebSphere Commerce Developer uses IBM Rational Application Developer
IBM Rational Application Developer
IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software is a commercial Eclipse-based integrated development environment , made by IBM's Rational Software division, for visually designing, constructing, testing, and deploying Web services, portals, and Java Enterprise Edition ...

 (RAD) for WebSphere software as the foundation of the Java IDE
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...

. RAD extends Eclipse
Eclipse (software)
Eclipse is a multi-language software development environment comprising an integrated development environment and an extensible plug-in system...

 environment with visual and other development features.

WebSphere Commerce Developer V6 is based on RAD V6, for WebSphere Commerce Developer V7 it is IBM Rational Software Architect
IBM Rational Software Architect
IBM Rational Software Architect, made by IBM's Rational Software division, is a comprehensive modeling and development environment that uses the Unified Modeling Language for designing architecture for C++ and Java 2 Enterprise Edition applications and web services...

 (RSA) or RAD V7.5.4, and for WebSphere Commerce Developer V7.0.0.1 it is RSA or RAD V7.5.5.1

Migration

Migrating to a new version of WebSphere Commerce is done by WebSphere Commerce Migration Wizard, an interactive wizard that guides you through each phase of the migration process, performing various tasks.

Primary components of the solution

As with most Web applications, WebSphere Commerce has 3 main components:
  • A database
  • An application server (Java EE)
  • A web server


Databases which are supported with WebSphere Commerce V7 are :
  • IBM DB2
    IBM DB2
    The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...

     on various platforms (i.e. Windows, AIX, Solaris, Linux, IBM i), provided with the product
  • Oracle
    Oracle Database
    The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....

  • Apache Derby
    Apache Derby
    Apache Derby is a relational database management system developed by the Apache Software Foundation that can be embedded in Java programs and used for online transaction processing. It has a 2 MB disk-space footprint.Apache Derby is developed as an open source project under the Apache 2.0 license...

     (developer only), provided with the (Developer) product.


Application server which is supported with WebSphere Commerce is IBM WebSphere Application Server, also provided with the product.

The supported Web servers are:
  • IBM HTTP Server
    IBM HTTP Server
    IBM HTTP Server is a web server based on the Apache Software Foundation's Apache HTTP Server that runs on AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows NT, and z/OS. It is available for and use free of charge but without IBM support. The HTTP server is also included in the IBM WebSphere Application Server...

    , provided with the product
  • Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)
    Internet Information Services
    Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...

  • Sun Java System Web Server
  • IBM HTTP Server for i5/OS

Operating Systems

The following operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

s are supported for WebSphere Commerce V7 :

WebSphere Commerce Developer V7 supported operating systems :

Pages detailing prerequisites, supported operating systems, databases and servers per previous releases:

Key Features

All editions (Express, Professional and Enterprise) include the following features:


In addition to the above features, the Professional and Enterprise editions include also the following additional features:
  • Gift Center
  • Sales Center
  • Recommendation Engine
  • Auctions
  • Cross-Channel Precision Marketing
  • Cross-Channel Order Processing
  • Marketing Experimentation (A/B Testing)
  • Workspaces


However, only the Enterprise edition includes also the following features:
  • Reseller Hosting
  • Contracts and entitlements
  • Punch out
  • Organizations
  • Advanced Roles/Relationships
  • Business Accounts
  • Requisition lists
  • Microsites and Subsites (Extended Sites)


All three editions of WebSphere Commerce Developer V6 (Express, Professional and Enterprise) include :
  • Development (Apache Derby) database
  • Rational Application Developer
  • WebSphere Application Server


Additional features are continuously provided through Enhancements.

Enhancements (new features)

In addition to the features that are already provided with WebSphere Commerce base product, additional new features are provided regularly by WebSphere Commerce Enhancements. These enhancements are delivered as installable Feature Packs, sample reference applications or documented solutions in white papers.

WebSphere Commerce feature packs include new features (so called enhancements). These enhancements add new functionalities or features to the base product. To be noted, a feature pack differs from a fix pack, which is a set of correction fixes to the base code. Fix Packs within a certain release are cumulative.

Each feature pack contains multiple features that are installed as one package, and can be then enabled individually. A feature provides a functional extension to the existing base product functionality.

WebSphere Commerce V7 enhancements at a glance

Deliver a Smarter Shopping Experience

Note: WebSphere Commerce V7.0 Feature Pack 3.0 consolidates all capabilities of both Feature Pack 2.0 and Feature Pack 1.0 in addition to the new capabilities in this release.

WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 3:
  • Tighter analytics, configurator, and order management integration
  • Precision marketing triggers
  • Integrated search solution enhancements
  • SEO enhancements
  • Enhanced business user tools
  • Customer benefits


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 2: Search
  • Allow shoppers to easily locate products and services that meet their needs with new site search capabilities, and offer businesses the ability to

merchandise products based on the search results

WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 2: Social bridging
  • Build social bridges from online storefronts to external social networking sites by leveraging portable, online identities with WebSphere Commerce powered websites


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 2: Co-shopping
  • Extend the brand experience by allowing shoppers to share their shopping experiences with others through co-browsing


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 2: Service provider solution
  • Enable retailers to sell subscription-based offerings and allow shoppers to place recurring orders online


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 2: Pricing
  • Enable business users to manage price lists and rules and integrate with WebSphere ILOG JRules, an industry leading external business rule management solution


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 2: Analytics
  • Integration with Coremetrics Intelligent Offer to deliver real-time recommendations based on shopper behavior


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 2: Foundational leadership
  • Provide improvements in business user tools for content management and IBM Management Center, including catalog filter, store management, editing of product attributes, and price lists and rules. The content management capabilities allow users to manage versions of catalog content and rollback changes if required.


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 1: Foundation
  • The WebSphere Commerce foundation feature adds new groups of services to the WebSphere Commerce Server.

  • WebSphere Commerce foundation is typically required when enabling features after installing a WebSphere Commerce feature pack. Enabling WebSphere Commerce foundation ensures that the enabled features can function correctly with WebSphere Commerce. It provides the groups of services that are required to support new functionality.

  • For example, in WebSphere Commerce Feature Pack 1, WebSphere Commerce foundation is required when enabling the Remote Widgets and Gift Center features. It supports the RESTful framework to retrieve feed data, and enables gift list services such as multiple wish lists and gift registries.


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 1: Management Center
  • The Management Center framework is the foundation for the catalogs, promotions, marketing, and asset business user tooling. The business objects are defined by the individual components that make up the Management Center. The framework uses those definitions to provide all of the features that you can use to find, create, modify, and delete the defined business objects. If you plan to customize the Management Center, it is important to understand the framework and the components that make up the Management Center.
  • The Management Center is a rich graphical Web-based tool that business users interact with to manage their business. The Management Center is developed using OpenLaszlo open source technology, which involves writing declarative XML files with embedded JavaScript.


WebSphere Commerce V7 Feature Pack 1: Starter store enhancements
  • A starter store enhancement provides additional features to a starter store. Some starter store enhancements are applicable to a predefined starter store. To use a starter store enhancement, you publish a store archive file (SAR file) on top of an existing starter store; then enable additional features by using Change Flow options.

  • Social Commerce
  • Remote widgets
  • Digital wallet
  • IBM Gift Center for the Madisons starter store


See also some Further information:

WebSphere Commerce V6 enhancements at a glance

Transforming the Online Shopping Experience with Web 2.0 and SOA

Customer empowerment (Feature Pack 1, Feature Pack 2 and Feature Pack 5)

WebSphere Commerce V6 Feature Pack 1
* Coremetrics for IBM WebSphere Commerce auto tagging utility (i.e. enhanced Web analytics
Web analytics
Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage....

)
* Coremetrics Tag Library support for WebSphere Commerce versions 5.6 and 5.6.1
* Coremetrics reports for WebSphere Commerce
* WebSphere Commerce and content management system integration with WebSphere Portal
WebSphere Portal
IBM WebSphere Portal is a set of software tools that enables companies to build and manage web portals.According to a Gartner Research comparison of software for horizontal portals, WebSphere Portal software is a leader in that market, having delivered "significantproduct innovation," and being...

 5.1.0.4
* Enhanced search and navigation by integrating to IBM OmniFind Discovery Edition

WebSphere Commerce V6 Feature Pack 2
* WebSphere Commerce Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...

 store solution (note: replaced by Feature Pack 5 Madisons store solution)
* WebSphere Commerce integration with sitemaps
Site map
A site map is a list of pages of a web site accessible to crawlers or users. It can be either a document in any form used as a planning tool for web design, or a web page that lists the pages on a web site, typically organized in hierarchical fashion...


* Reports for IBM Sales Center for WebSphere Commerce
* Reports for e-mail campaigns
* WebSphere Commerce and content management system integration with WebSphere Portal
WebSphere Portal
IBM WebSphere Portal is a set of software tools that enables companies to build and manage web portals.According to a Gartner Research comparison of software for horizontal portals, WebSphere Portal software is a leader in that market, having delivered "significantproduct innovation," and being...

 6.0
* Contract terms and conditions

WebSphere Commerce V6 Feature Pack 5
* Madisons store
Web 2.0 starter store with a streamlined purchasing process (note: this starter store replaces the Feature Pack 2 Web 2.0 store).
* Buy Online, Pickup In-Store
Cross-channel support by using Distributed Order Management (DOM) solution integration.

Front-office integration (Feature Pack 2)
  • WebSphere Commerce Portal integration


IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce (Feature Pack 3, 3.0.1, and 4)
  • IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce business user tool


Back-office integration using SOA
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...

 enhancements (Feature Pack 1)
  • Improved Service Orientation and Web service
    Web service
    A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...

    s support for back-office integration, including JCA adapters for Web Services, reference applications and pre-defined Web Services for integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Order Management Systems (OMS)
    • WebSphere Commerce and SAP system integration
    • WebSphere Commerce and Sterling Customer Order Management PCA (Sterling COM PCA) integration


Paymentech plug-in for WebSphere Commerce (Feature Pack 2)
  • Paymentech plug-in for WebSphere Commerce
  • Compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards


See also some Further information:

Solutions

WebSphere Commerce provides a number of solutions and has numerous partners, which are building further customizations

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
Silverdale Interactive © 2024. All Rights Reserved.
 
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