Event Summary
On September 3, Inovis International, Inc. An electronic data interchange (EDI), business-to-business (B2B), and value-added network (VAN) connectivity specialist, and a leader in providing e-business commerce automation solutions that facilitate the more effective management of retail, supply, and manufacturing partnerships, and QRS Corporation (NASDAQ: QRSI) announced a definitive agreement to merge.
This announcement occurred just as JDA Software Group Inc. (NASDAQ: JDAS), a prominent global provider of integrated software and professional services for the retail demand chain, was about to close acquisition of QRS. QRS broke off the "engagement" in favor of a better-priced acquisition by Inovis. For details of what happened between JDA and QRS see Not All Acquisitions Happen: JDA and QRS.
Both QRS and Inovis claim that to collaborate, trading partners must interact and transact business efficiently, and automation of transactions helps make collaboration effective and differentiation easier. On the other hand, to transact, companies must be connected or networked. Thus, QRS believes that it adds value to its customers because it offers the products and services that companies need to connect, transact, collaborate, and differentiate themselves, ultimately driving overall business performance improvement and improved brand equity as measured through customer awareness, image, preference, and loyalty.
QRS markets its products and services within the following three Solutions Groups:
1) Data exchange, which is an EDI solution using an electronic mailbox on a proprietary VAN, through which communications can be established across dissimilar machines and across disparate connectivity architectures and protocols, thereby resolving many of the complexities of inter-company communications;
2) Internet transaction exchange (ITX), which provides an alternative messaging system that is Internet-capable and that supports multiple data formats and protocols such as EDI, XML, and RosettaNet. It also provides an alternative to traditional VAN services without disrupting customers' current trading environment;
3) Enterprise business exchange, which is enterprise software providing real-time data and document delivery that helps companies connect, integrate, and optimize business operations;
4) QRS web forms, which is an Internet-based means of sending and receiving EDI documents and is aimed at streamlining the purchasing and procurement process. It establishes connectivity to trading partners; supports multiple EDI documents (including purchase order initiation, changes, acknowledgements, and status inquiries and reports; credit and debit adjustments; payment order and remittance advices; invoices; UCC-128 case labels; and ASNs); and includes a number of manifest, bill of lading (BOL), and packing list reports;
5) QRS managed EC operations center enables small- and medium-sized companies to comply with communications requirements using simple fax, phone, and e-mail without having to make a significant investment in internal systems, by setting up the connectivity to trading partners and managing the data exchange transactions. It also performs tags and label services that consist of production assistance relating to product tags and bar code labels, which services allow customers to outsource the labor-intensive effort involved in merchandise tagging;
6) QRS compliance link is an Internet-based product that is designed to simplify and streamline the trading community enablement process and allow companies to realize the benefits of their electronic commerce initiatives more quickly by giving companies the ability to monitor the status of vendors, while offering vendors an easy-to-use tool to automate the start up processes. It provides tracing, program management, on-line transaction testing, and a standards repository to simplify the enablement process
7) QRS EDIINT gateway is a service that allows customers that use data exchange to communicate with trading partners that request data delivery via EDIINT by providing a seamless connection between trading partners using VAN and AS2 protocols. With this service, QRS customers do not have to invest in additional software or hardware to comply with AS2 mandates; and
8) Access services that provide high-speed managed connections over dedicated lines, which eliminate the difficulties otherwise presented by dropped connections or busy signals and provide an "always-on" connection. The leased lines are secure and are fully managed by QRS through its relationship with IBM and AT&T, and they also provide networking connections via remote access to a frame relay network, an Internet protocol (IP)-based network and a systems network architecture (SNA) network.