News Release:
July 08, 1999 12:40
AppNet Announces Comprehensive e-commerce Outsourcing Service; NOAA Logs on to Innovative e-government Program
BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 1999--AppNet, Inc., (Nasdaq: APNT), a single-source e-business solutions firm, today announced their outsourcEC service, a single-source solution to enable organizations to launch their e-commerce strategy.
As part of the service, AppNet designs, develops, integrates, hosts, and manages robust e-commerce web sites and virtual store fronts for large and medium enterprises. AppNet's outsourcEC service enables their customers to implement their e-business strategies more quickly, reduces costs, and increases uptime for web sites.
Unlike other e-commerce outsourcers, AppNet manages and operates e-commerce systems that they develop, allowing their customers a seamless launch followed by superior operational execution. AppNet has built a comprehensive library of reusable and customizable JAVA objects called Commerce En@ble to increase the speed and improve the quality of their web site implementation. By using Commerce En@ble AppNet can quickly create e-commerce functionality such as electronic catalogs, online ordering and payment, enriched shopping experience, back office integration, membership management, and other critical capabilities. AppNet has used this JAVA library to build commerce web sites for Burton Snowboards, the Retired Person's Services online pharmacy, and several other companies.
"Our outsourcEC service provides the ultimate value proposition to our customers," said Ken Bajaj, CEO of AppNet. "Organizations are looking to implement e-business today. By not only developing our customers' e-commerce applications but also running them, we ensure our customers maximum return on their e-business investments."
AppNet hosts their customers' e-commerce applications in EC outsourcing facilities in Laurel, Maryland, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with the essential security, monitoring, networking, and data processing technologies. By selecting one outsourcing partner to provide both the development and the ongoing operation, AppNet clients can implement their e-business strategies more quickly and deliver higher customer satisfaction.
AppNet also announced that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has signed a five year, $3.2 million contract for AppNet's outsourcEC services. Using Commerce En@ble, AppNet will design, implement, and operate a powerful e-government system to issue fishing permits and capture landings data via an integrated Internet and an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The new system will improve the accuracy and decrease the time it takes NOAA to issue new and renewed permits and registrations for Atlantic tunas and reporting recreational fisheries landings. NOAA plans to expand the system to other fisheries.
"We are pleased to be working with AppNet as one of our technology partners, said Mike Fraser, NMFS senior project manager. "The integration of various Internet technologies, e-commerce, and the interactive telephone systems will greatly improve our levels of customer service and our capabilities to fulfill our mission."
During the projected five year life of the project, AppNet will design, build, and integrate NOAA's front-end e-commerce capability, and will also handle the essential back-end functions such as order and payment processing, call center, and order fulfillment. As part of the project, AppNet will host and manage all of the complex back-end e-commerce processing at its EC outsourcing facility. AppNet will build the NOAA system using the Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition on an NT platform.
AppNet will perform design, analysis, application and system development, and systems operations in their EC outsourcing facilities. AppNet partnered with PriceInteractive of Reston, Virginia and Target TeleServices of Salt Lake City, Utah to provide IVR and call center support, respectively.
AppNet (Nasdaq: APNT) is a new type of company - a single-source e-business solutions firm. AppNet doesn't over emphasize any one e-business discipline, but understands that interactive marketing is just as important as back office integration. AppNet combines strategic consulting, interactive media services, application development, back office systems integration, and e-commerce hosting and outsourcing into powerful e-business solutions for Fortune 1000 companies. Customers include Baxter Healthcare, Ciena, Dial, Ford, GeoCities, Hyundai, K*B Toys, NEC, Norwest, and Unilever. Find more information about AppNet at appnet.com.
The Fisheries Service is an agency of the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation's living marine resource through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. Find more information about NMFS at nmfs.gov.
CONTACT: Shoshana Rosenthal
Burson-Marstellar
202-530-4550
shoshana_rosenthal@bm.com |
