Softshare
Encyclopedia
NEWS: Liaison Technologies Acquires Softshare
Liaison Acquires Softshare for Extending Application and B2B IntegrationAcquisition Expands Geographical Reach, Partner Channels and Industry Diversification
ATLANTA, GA - August 18, 2010 - Liaison Technologies, a global provider of integration and data management services and solutions, announced today the acquisition of privately-held Softshare, an innovative integration solutions provider. The transaction strengthens Liaison’s premier global offerings, which are specifically focused on flexible integration and data management services.
Softshare is a privately owned company that develops, distributes, and supports business-to-business e-commerce software and Web applications and provides related services, including value-added network
Value-added network
A Value-added Network is a hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based or proprietary data via shared Business Processes...
services. In addition, Softshare develops and distributes client-tracking and reporting applications used by business development centers such as the Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration
Small Business Administration
The Small Business Administration is a United States government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses...
.
Softshare was founded in 1982 as a division of MCR Technology Incorporated, offering high-speed computer time-sharing
Time-sharing
Time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major technological shift in the history of computing.By allowing a large...
services to a mostly government-connected client base. Over time, Softshare changed its focus to include Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
(EDI), a standardized format used by government and commercial entities to exchange business data electronically. Currently, most of Softshare's product offerings deal with the EDI standard in addition to other business-interchange formats 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....
.
Softshare is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
and, in 2005, opened European headquarters, Softshare B.V., in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, The Netherlands.
Products
Current product offerings include the following:- Athena, a Web-based, online e-commerce/EDI application.
- Delta, an enterprise data translation application that maps between any of the following formats: EDIElectronic Data InterchangeElectronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
, XMLXMLExtensible 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....
, flat files, database tablesTable (database)In relational databases and flat file databases, a table is a set of data elements that is organized using a model of vertical columns and horizontal rows. A table has a specified number of columns, but can have any number of rows...
, and text formats such as HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
. - Electronic Commerce Server (ECS), an enterprise communications server that manages and routes e-commerce data via prevalent Internet protocolsInternet protocol suiteThe Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is commonly known as TCP/IP from its most important protocols: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol , which were the first networking protocols defined in this...
including HTTP/HTTPSHttpsHypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...
, FTP/FTPSFTPSFTPS is an extension to the commonly used File Transfer Protocol that adds support for the Transport Layer Security and the Secure Sockets Layer cryptographic protocols....
, SMTP, and POP3. - EDI Notepad, a free EDI viewing and editing application that can be downloaded from Liaison's Web site.
In addition, Liaison Technologies provides a number of services related to the transmission and transformation of e-commerce data, including value-added network
Value-added network
A Value-added Network is a hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based or proprietary data via shared Business Processes...
and data translation services.
Awards
- In 2004, Softshare received an accomplishment award from the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD)ACORDACORD, the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development, is the insurance industry's nonprofit standards developer, a resource for information about object technology, EDI, XML and electronic commerce in the United States and abroad....
for early adoption of the SOAPSOAPSOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...
protocol for XML-based messaging.
- In 2005, Softshare was awarded the Spirit of Small Business Award by the Pacific Coast Business Times and Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
District office of the U.S. Small Business AdministrationSmall Business AdministrationThe Small Business Administration is a United States government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses...
.