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Event Summary
In
the perfect world of e-commerce all of the partners in a large marketplace
or supply chain would agree upon network, data, and security protocols.
Even outside of that IT Utopia, traditional models like a hub-and-spoke
network architecture make the management of protocols fairly simple; while
the central hub has to match each of the other partners, two spoke partners
don't have to match each other. However, as growing Internet marketplaces
and extended supply chains rely more and more on a peer-to-peer architecture,
more of the participants get involved in implementing and managing a variety
of protocols.
Cyclone
Commerce is a breath of fresh air to companies facing the problems resulting
from this kind of growth. Its products manage and synchronize the various
protocols in use between partners in the network. Cyclone takes responsibility
both for the routing and security of all data transactions and for the
tracking and coordination of the various protocols in use on the network
as they change due to actions of individual partners.
The
product is fully integrated with all the leading translation packages.
In effect, Cyclone provides the network with all the advantages of a hub-and-spoke
network without placing any of the data management problems of a typical
hub on that company's IT department. Key features of its solutions are
multiple encryption, transport, and messaging protocols and certificate
management. Cyclone supports many of the emerging e-commerce standards
such as cXML, BizTalk, RosettaNet, and CBL and runs on NT, Linux, and
AS/400 platforms.
With
the new release, the product is available as a hosted application under
a subscription pricing model, as well as in the traditional licensed software
model. The company maintains its own network operations center hosted
at Frontier Global.
Market
Impact
With
more than one hundred customers, ranging from manufacturers like Anheuser-Busch
through emerging dot-coms, and still flushed from the glow of a multi-million
dollar partnership with Sterling Commerce in which Cyclone will provide
the Internet data exchange technology for Sterling's NT-based family of
solutions, it is clear that Cyclone has identified a real need.
As
one of the first of its kind to blow into town, Cyclone has a good chance
at carving out market share, especially among the telcos and marketplace
enablers. While there are other companies involved in building data conversion
utilities, they do not compete with Cyclone's core product. A closer competitor
is IPNet Solutions, which also has protocol translation and management
capabilities.
User
Recommendations
Cyclone's best chance to turn huge profits may be by arrangements with
vendors like Sterling that want to include Cyclone's technology with their
own solutions. But there are at least two kinds of companies that might
want to buy Cyclone's software or hosted solution.
Clearly
a large company with many trading partners or many divisions could use
Cyclone's products to manage their infrastructures. These companies will
probably choose the licensed solution.
On the other hand, as private-label vertical marketplaces proliferate,
these typically small companies will need to integrate their often smaller
suppliers. None of these companies is likely to have the resources or
staff needed to build even a traditional hub-and-spoke architecture. Therefore,
they should welcome a solution like Cyclone's.