PeopleSoft teams with e-commerce standards group
The software maker joins the growing number of companies working with RosettaNet, an industry group drafting new standards to help firms exchange information online.
With the move, PeopleSoft is joining rivals SAP, Baan and JD Edwards on RosettaNet's solution partners board. PeopleSoft makes software that companies use to automate back-office functions, such as accounting and human resources.
RosettaNet is attempting to bridge the gap between software built to handle e-commerce transactions over the Web and software that handles internal business management functions offline. The goal is to make these different systems communicate with each other and share information, the group says.
By joining the RosettaNet board, PeopleSoft is committing to providing services, consulting and other tools that will help customers deploy interfaces based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), a RosettaNet representative said.
XML is a Web standard that proponents claim allows firms to easily and cheaply conduct online transactions with customers and partners. It also helps to deliver sound, video and other data across the Web.
"If (enterprise resource planning) vendors are going to play in the high-tech e-commerce space, they're going to have to adopt these standards," said Rod Johnson, an analyst with AMR Research. "One of the first steps in being an e-business player is supporting these standards."
As part of the agreement announced today, PeopleSoft said it will deliver a RosettaNet-compliant XML interface for its current software, called PeopleSoft Release 7.5, by the middle of this year.