WebSphere Commerce Portal V5.4 Solutions

348 WebSphere Commerce Portal V5.4 Solutions

10.1 Introduction

In recent times, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of powerful mobile

devices. These mobile devices, ranging from pagers to mobile phones, wireless

PDAs, and wireless laptops, are changing the way people interact at work and at

home. The sophistication of the mobile devices and wireless technologies has

advanced to the stage of mass-market usage and acceptance. Just as we saw a

surge in e-commerce by PC browser clients, we are now experiencing a similar

phenomenon in mobile commerce by users of these more advanced mobile

devices.

The combination of wireless technologies and the powerful Java-based

application architecture provided by WebSphere Portal and WebSphere

Commerce promises to transform e-business. IBM is leading the way in the

mobile computing arena by bringing together the technologies of the wireless

world and the strength and integration of the IBM server and software family of

products, to create end-to-end mobile commerce enabled portal solutions.

Mobile computing, also known as pervasive computing, provides a series of

technologies that enable people to complete personal and professional tasks

using this new class of portable, intelligent, wireless mobile devices. These

mobile devices give people access to information at any time and place. Some

areas of the world are more invested in wireless technologies than others.

However, the capability and number of users in all areas of the world are growing

at a tremendous rate.

Wherever you live, mobile computing will in the very near future become a

prominent means of accessing information on the Internet. Just as the PC

browser client market matured from accessing the Internet simply to browse and

gather information to full-blown e-business and e-commerce, so the same is

happening for mobile devices.

As a leader in e-business and e-commerce, IBM has recognized that mobile

computing offers tremendous business opportunities, has integrated mobile

device support into its products, and has developed a series of middleware

products designed as infrastructure for mobile computing.

IBM provides a wide range of electronic commerce solutions for your business

needs. Within the IBM WebSphere brand, IBM has enabled the WebSphere

Portal and WebSphere Commerce product suites to support mobile clients:

򐂰 IBM WebSphere Commerce

This product suite is very versatile and can be used for B2C, B2B, and

Auction e-commerce Web sites. WebSphere Commerce provides a pure Java