CrossWorlds Lightens the B2B Integration Load

Software Magazine, Dec, 2000 by Colleen Frye

CrossWorlds Software is aiming to lighten the load of B2B integration for the supply chain with Serverless Trading Agent (STA), a new feature available in the recently released CrossWorlds 3.1. While stopping short of calling STA "EAI Lite," Tyler McDaniel, analyst at Hurwitz Group, Framingham, Mass., says STA is an easy-to-use, lightweight piece of software that removes the maintenance burden from smaller partners. "In today's market, where second- and third-tier suppliers and partners haven't gotten the kinds of attention they need with products to help them enter complex exchanges and do more B2B over the Web, this will open the doorway to smaller players," says McDaniel.

McDaniels says other EAI players, such as webMethods, have approaches to include partners, but none are as lightweight as STA.

Freedom of Choice

STA is all about choice, says Fred Amoroso, president and CEO of CrossWorlds, based in Burlingame, Calif. Amoroso succeeded the company's founder Katrina A. Garnett, who is chairman, at the end of 1999. "You can define the level of integration you want to establish. If you want a tight connection [with a partner], you can put a server on the other side. However, you should not be forced to have that level of infrastructure when you're not dealing with that type of trading partner relationship. We're allowing for you to have a technology that enables a relationship that is coupled with the depth of integration you're looking for. Nobody else accommodates that last piece."

But they could, says Josh Greenbaum, principal, Enterprise Applications Consulting, Daly City, Calif. "I think the STA approach is not revolutionary, but a new spin on an old idea," says Greenbaum.

"B2B definitely requires that exchanges 'push' the connection technology out to the partners and suppliers in order for the exchange to achieve a critical mass of transactions," says Greenbaum. "Connection technology can come in a number of forms, but the idea is the same: The partner/supplier utilizes connectors, running on internal systems, to connect with the outside world. If an exchange standardizes on CrossWorlds and then sells or gives away STAs, that makes it easier for the partners to participate in the exchange. But the approach is as old as the hills, and one that virtually every EAI vendor can replicate with a little marketing."

CrossWorlds completed an initial public offering in June. Revenue for the third quarter, ending September 30, 2000, was $15.1 million, an increase of 185% over the prior year's third quarter, with a net loss of $7.9 million. The company has not yet reached profitability.