StrikeIron Launches the Marketplace API
Web service enables ISVs to create “live” smart applications
with seamless integration, “invoke-thru” usage tracking and on-the-fly
licensing
Research Triangle Park, NC – January 31, 2005 – StrikeIron® Inc., the
worldwide leader of Web services commercialization through the StrikeIron Web
Services Marketplace™, today announced the launch of the StrikeIron Marketplace
API. The Marketplace API is a full-service interface that allows Independent
Software Vendors to integrate StrikeIron Marketplace Web services into their
on-demand applications. It also provides an integrated Web service interface
allowing ISV partners to quickly and easily provide additional functionality and
live data into their applications.
ISVs can now deliver applications that directly leverage external Web
services without their customers needing to leave the application being used.
Key benefits to ISVs include a seamless interface that provides on-the-fly Web
services access for effortless integration with the ISV’s application,
customized Marketplace WSDLs for each ISV providing usage tracking for
individual Web services across multiple ISV applications, and an “invoke-thru”
mechanism which provides operational views and compensation directly to the ISV
on a transactional model.
“StrikeIron offers a compelling solution for ISVs to extend and differentiate
their solutions by enabling “smart consumer” applications that can now be
integrated with live data from StrikeIron’s extensive and diverse catalog of Web
services,” said Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst, ZapThink LLC. “The StrikeIron Web
Services Marketplace provides a significant variety of web services that enhance
CRM, ecommerce, financial, data cleansing and countless other applications,
delivering on the promise of Web services and service-oriented architectures to
deliver composite, on-demand applications."
For example, CRMfusion, an online systems integrator and software developer,
has integrated several data quality tools into their salesforce.com add-on
AppExchange applications. Now salesforce.com users can easily access data
cleansing Web services from CRMfusion’s application. This eliminate the time
consuming, costly and error prone methods of bulk data importing, exporting and
cleansing and validating their contact database within salesforce.com.
“The Marketplace API from StrikeIron adds extraordinary value to CRMfusion’s
applications," said Glenn Wilson, president CRMfusion. "For example, data within
multiple customer contact records can be validated, cleansed, and augmented in
real-time directly within the CRM system."
StrikeIron Marketplace API Benefits:
- Plug and play access to Marketplace Web services (API access to the
Marketplace).
- Integrated ISV interface allow ISV partners to quickly and easily provide
additional functionality and live data into their applications.
- Offers a real-time directory of all services available in the Marketplace,
including ISV-customized WSDL URLs for each Web service in the Marketplace.
- Registering and provisioning of Web services usage and licensing is done
entirely through the API, so a user never has to leave the ISV application to
gain access to or increase access to any Web service within the StrikeIron
Marketplace.
- “Invoke thru” model compensates ISV for every transaction that comes
through their customized WSDL.
- Customized WSDL model provides usage tracking for individual Web services
across multiple ISV applications enabling operational views into customer
behavior usage for the ISV.
- Provides for ISV-built niche solutions that can leverage one, several, or
all of the Web services from the StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace.
- Provides a consistent mechanism and interface for ISVs regardless of Web
service(s) being integrated, extending multiple applications with a normalized
interface to multiple Web services from multiple publishers from a single
source.
“StrikeIron has already delivered and continues to provide a comprehensive
set of trusted and reliable Web services to its user base through its network of
third-party Web services publishers,” said Bob Brauer, president and CEO of
StrikeIron. “Now, any solution provider can easily bring the benefits of our
Marketplace of Web Services directly into the hands of the business user,
leveraging StrikeIron’s sophisticated Web services commercialization platform
and its intuitive Web services Marketplace API.”
About StrikeIron
StrikeIron is the leader in providing innovative solutions for delivering data
over the emerging Internet. The company’s innovative Web Services Marketplace
provides a technology platform, micro-transaction management and a consistent
interface across many XML-based Web services from multiple, diverse sources.
This allows business users, application developers and enterprise IT
professionals to customize and integrate external data sources and additional
external functionality into enterprise, Web, and composite applications.
Currently, StrikeIron provides over 100 live data sources and business
functions from organizations such as Cortera, D&B, Gale, MapQuest, Midnight Trader,
Tax Data Systems, The Sports Network, and Zacks.
StrikeIron also offers IronCloud™, the only comprehensive Web services delivery
platform that opens up new channels for data distribution and consumption
through Web Services. Enterprises of all sizes can now reduce the cost and
complexity of managing the challenges of data distribution which include
leveraging an existing external hardware and software architecture, controlling
and metering access and usage, external monitoring for 24x7 reliability, full
usage analytics, as well as multiple authentication scenarios and instead
concentrate their focus on making information easier for partners, customers,
and distributed business units to access and use. StrikeIron delivers value to
over 1,500 customers and partners such as Avaya, BEA, Delivery.com, IBM, Honda
Europe, D&B, Siemens, Nike, Swarovski, ShoeBuy, and Exclusive Resorts. For
more information, visit www.strikeiron.com.
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