An e-commerce pack from Lotus

Continuing its efforts to court small and medium-sized businesses, IBM (IBM) subsidiary Lotus Development plans to roll out an Internet-commerce server package in January, the company said today.

Domino.Merchant 2.0 Server Pack integrates the company's Lotus Domino 4.6 server with electronic commerce applications. Those functions include storefront, order processing, store registration, customer tracking, contact management, and product catalog and management templates.

The e-commerce package will initially be available for Windows NT, the company said. It will cost $3,495 for a single processor and $8,995 for a multiprocessor.

The e-commerce package also features SiteCreator 2.0, a Web site wizard for site building and management. The template-driven SiteCreator package replaces AppAssembler, a Notes program that generates sites that work with an earlier Domino Merchant release, according to the company.

Marie Kelly, senior manager of product marketing for Domino, said, "SiteCreator is much faster than the AppAssembler was. It also has more design features for creating sites."

SiteCreator also includes support for frames, layouts, and the creation of an image library for Web sites.

Kelly said the package supports IBM's Global Services' complete range of EDI (electronic data interchange) services, including intranet/extranet, e-commerce, and managed data network systems. The latter is meant to help companies do business over the Internet by using Internet technology with their traditional IT applications.

"This is a better fit ... for the smaller business," she said.

Domino.Merchant is one of a group of electronic commerce systems from Lotus and IBM that includes Net.Commerce START for medium-sized businesses and Net.Commerce Pro for larger businesses.