Patrick Townsend & Associates announces new Alliance B2B Server for back office EDI and eCommerce applications for IBM iSeries customers.

Press contact:
Shawn Harris
Patrick Townsend & Associates Inc
7700 Earling Street NE
Olympia, WA 98506
(360) 357-8971
Email: shawn.harris@patownsend.com

OLYMPIA, Washington, May 14, 2001 – Patrick Townsend & Associates announced today the release of their new B2B eCommerce server product named Alliance B2B Server.  Alliance B2B Server incorporates a broad array of technologies that are critical to back office EDI and eCommerce operations including EDI translation, communications, web integration, network support, report distribution, systems management, and security.  The new product brings together many of the technologies available in other Townsend products and provides a single point of entry and common roadmap to EDI and eCommerce.  Alliance B2B Server is implemented on the IBM iSeries platform and provides cross-platform services. For customers with multiple operating systems Alliance B2B Server provides a single platform and interface.

Patrick Townsend, president, said “Alliance B2B Server is the culmination of our efforts to provide a broad set of EDI and eCommerce services under one umbrella. In the real world iSeries customers are faced with many EDI and communications needs to satisfy their trading partner requirements. Data translation requirements include EDI, XML, Excel CSV and flat files. Communications requirements include FTP, sockets, point-to-point dial, and web interfaces. Networks include the Internet, IBM Global Network and many others. On top of all of this there needs to be a coherent set of systems management and alert capabilities. Alliance B2B Server provides all of this support in one product. It gives customers the ability to respond to any back office B2B requirement.”

Alliance B2B Server supports the small and medium sized business market by providing an inexpensive entry point on the iSeries platform. Customers on entry level iSeries platforms find an affordable solution that is rich in B2B functionality. As customer requirements increase Alliance B2B Server scales to very large multi-processor iSeries systems. Sharon Kleinerman, head of sales and marketing, said “Smaller companies have always had difficulty with the expense of many of the EDI products currently on the market. Alliance B2B Server makes it easy to get into EDI and eCommerce. As you business grows it grows with you.”

Current Alliance customers can upgrade to the full B2B server without a loss of functionality or the need for re-configuration. Townsend will make Alliance B2B Server available through its existing Alliance Partner channels. A competitive upgrade option will help customers make the transition to Alliance B2B Server technology.

Patrick Townsend & Associates specializes in EDI and eCommerce communications solutions for the iSeries platform. More information is available on Townsend products at (800) 357-1019 or at their web site at www.patownsend.com

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