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SciQuest.com's B2B E-Marketplace

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A WebSphere Application Server⁶ was used to develop applications that supported the company's back-end business processes. According to Andrews, "In our industry, you need the ability to handle a high volume of new information quickly. WebSphere Commerce Suite and DB2 Universal Database enabled us to do just that, making it possible for us to open our doors to millions of potential customers within weeks."

At the heart of SciQuest's online catalog was DB2, which consolidated and stored information on more than one million items from approximately 600 vendors. DB2 stored all of SciQuest's business-critical information, vendor information and customer purchase histories for tracking orders. This enabled SciQuest to eliminate much of its customers' procurement paperwork and to give the customers a one-stop solution for all of their laboratory supply needs. Rob Fusillo, chief information officer at SciQuest.com said, "From the outset, our goal was to utilize the Web to both reduce transaction costs and increase the value of the average order by allowing customers to purchase from a single vendor." To host the e-marketplace, SciQuest used RS/6000 Enterprise Server Model H70 servers and the HTTP7 server.

Front-end web queries and transactions were connected to enterprise wide information using Net.Data and Java servlets⁸. Net.Data macros⁹ and JavaServer Pages (JSP)¹⁰ delivered the results to the user's Web browser.

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6] It handles all application operations between users and an organization's backend business applications or databases. Application servers are typically used for complex transaction-based applications. To support high-end needs, an application server has to have built-in redundancy, monitors for high-availability, high-performance distributed application services and support for complex database access.

7] HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) servers utilize the underlying protocol used by the Internet, which defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands.

8] A form of server-based Java programs that operates in conjunction with a web server and offers an alternative to using Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and server application programming interfaces (SAPIs) to communicate with web server processes.

9] Net.Data macros aid real-time transaction processing.

10] JSP helps in separating the HTML coding from the business logic in the Web pages. It can also be used to access reusable components, such as servlets, JavaBeans, and Java-based Web applications.