2/20/97
4:16 PM
Highmark (formerly Pennsylvania Blue Shield and Blue Cross Western Pennsylvania) will use NetX:Web e-comm software from S2 Systems to extend its interactive healthcare services provided on the Web. NetX:Web will allow Highmark remote users to access eligibility and benefit information, submit provider referrals, perform claims status inquiries, and access and forward treatment information using Web technologies.
Highmark processes more than 75 million electronic health care and dental claims annually. They also process more than 1 million provider service transactions via phone or Fax each year. The average call or Fax to a Highmark service rep costs $6.25, while an on-line transaction is only $.45.
NetX:Web provides an e-comm gateway that routes electronic claim and inquiry requests to appropriate systems. Highmark will use NetX to ensure that data residing in different servers remains in sync while it also tracks the information flow.
http://www.highmark.com
http://www.s2systems.com
2/14/97
3:23 PM
Elcom Systems has licensed its PECOS (Personal Electronic Catalogue and Ordering System) technology to Blue Star Group, a New Zealand-based office supply company. Blue Star Group has already begun implementing the PECOS-based system for two subsidiaries, Whitcoulls Office Products and OTC. They will offer the PECOS-based electronic catalogue and ordering system to all customers, from smaller businesses to large corporations.
Whitcoulls Office Products' and OTC's current on-line system is a VMARK-based system running a Digital UNIX operating system on Digital Alpha Servers. The PECOS technology enhances this system's ordering process by automating the full circle of purchasing transactions, from selection and ordering, through delivery and tracking. In addition, the system will provide management with an analysis tool to help assess company-wide budget and expenditure information. For example, through the use of customized, Microsoft Excel-based reports, management can generate detailed reports on each order, assisting with internal accounting functions.
PECOS technology automates the complete business-to-business transaction cycle, linking buyers and sellers in real time throughout product selection, ordering, fulfilment and delivery. In addition, the system facilitates customer interaction by enabling distributors to respond to inquiries immediately.
2/14/97
3:04 PM
Sterling Commerce and Bethlehem Steel have signed a two-year agreement for Sterling to become Bethlehem's provider of value-added electronic commerce services. The new agreement is part of Bethlehem Steel's strategy to consolidate its e-comm and EDI activities. Previously, Bethlehem Steel used six different e-comm services providers.
Bethlehem Steel's trading community includes more than 600 suppliers, customers, and carriers. More than 100 of the suppliers use the old COMPORD AISI industry standard. The company will use Sterling's COMMERCE:Network, which supports the COMPORD standard, for EDI document exchange. Plans also include EDI-to-fax messaging with smaller trading partners, EDI communications with banks for payments, and connection to a new automotive industry network being developed by the Big Three automakers for use with their suppliers. Bethlehem Steel also uses Sterling's GENTRAN:Realtime and GENTRAN:Basic for MVS EDI message management software products.
http://www.stercomm.com
http://www.bethsteel.com
2/11/97
5:37 PM
Myers Internet Services and iCat have formed a strategic alliance to provide mortgage companies, banks and credit unions with expanded opportunities to conduct electronic commerce on the Internet. Myers will provide customized solutions using iCat's technology for the financial services industry.
With the iCat Electronic Commerce Suite 3.0, scheduled to be released in late February, a financial institution will be able to create a comprehensive, interactive catalog of products and services, deliver it on the Internet and accept secure electronic transactions from shoppers.
http://www.myer.com
http://www.icat.com
2/5/97
4:53 PM
SupplyTech, Inc. announced recently that it has combined with Harbinger Corporation, an Atlanta-based supplier of Electronic Commerce software and services. SupplyTech will provide 100 percent of its privately held stock in exchange for 1.6 million new shares of Harbinger common stock. Harbinger will then have 13.5 million shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis.
C. Tycho Howle, chairman and CEO of Harbinger, and Ted Annis, co-founder and CEO of SupplyTech, who will assume the responsibility of president of the new division to be known as Harbinger Ann Arbor, said the larger entity would benefit from "increased operating leverage in R&D;, support and professional services."
Since 1988, Harbinger has been dedicated to providing
comprehensive electronic commerce and EDI software solutions, and its
scalable translation software runs on PC's to mainframes.
The company's corporate headquarters are located in Atlanta; the
SupplyTech division is located in Ann Arbor, Mich.; and the
Enterprise Solutions Division is headquartered in Dallas.
For more information about Harbinger, send e-mail to [email protected]