Startup WebCollage Inc. unveiled Syndicator, Windows NT software that lets one e-commerce Web site integrate its application content with other Web site business partners.
With Syndicator, an online shopper can use an e-commerce application at one site - even though the application, such as travel or loan requests, is actually located at a second location. And Syndicator handles the integration without hyperlinks. The drawback to hyperlinks in affiliate and partnering arrangements on the Web is that they send the shopper out to an unknown site, a dismaying prospect for shoppers and site operators alike.
WebCollage Syndicator "allows companies to use the Web for new types of partnerships," says Eli Singer, co-founder and CEO of the New York City company. "It lets them take part of a Web site - the application front-end - and put it in view of the visitor's Web browser without having to use a hyperlink."
The model that WebCollage is striving for is not much different than the way DoubleClick's server serves up banner ads at Web sites to visitors, Singer points out. However, WebCollage goes further in ensuring one business can run its e-commerce application inside the Web site of another.
Syndicator works by having the e-commerce content provider install the WebCollage server directly behind the commerce site's Web front end where the content would ordinarily be directed from internal databases. The business partner wishing to include this e-commerce application takes HTML code based on Syndicator and integrates it into the preferred part of his own Web site. When the Web visitor decides to use the application, and clicks on it, the Syndicator server pushes the commerce content down to the visitor's browser. The effect is so streamlined, the online shopper doesn't perceive that the e-commerce application is running anywhere but on the Web site he first visited.
Singer, formerly president of security firm MEMCO, which was acquired by Computer Associates, says WebCollage plans to soon introduce a Unix-based version of Syndicator. The NT-based server software now available costs $50,000, plus $10,000 for each "partner" using it to receive distributed e-commerce content.www.webcollage.com