Industry Strength, I-Commerce

by Tom Yager

(IDG) -- If you're looking for a middle ground between in-house site development and high-dollar consultants, a packaged e-commerce solution may be your best option. Emrys Solutions soon will release Digital Exchange, a virtual storefront application that runs on low-cost PC servers. Digital Exchange embraces the key qualities I seek in Web-based applications: low resource usage, speedy performance, and quick deployment. Its design leaves me with some concerns about security and usability, but I think Digital Exchange will be a worthy player in the midrange e-commerce market.


Crossing it up

The Windows NT version of Digital Exchange operates with multiple Web servers, including Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), O'Reilly WebSite, and the freeware Sambar (www.sambar.com). Emrys is working on support for Netscape/iPlanet Web servers, and a Linux port is also under way. To avoid dependence on Microsoft, Emrys devised its own network application services architecture. Digital Exchange uses Emrys' Visions application server, which uses proprietary scripts and configuration files to manage everything from administrative interfaces to database connections. Digital Exchange's architecture is very similar to that of Miva Merchant, a cross-platform e-commerce solution that runs on Miva's Empresa application server. Digital Exchange's loose ties to IIS -- Microsoft's standard Web server -- impose a considerable post-installation burden. Emrys' installation utility sets up the core Visions environment. Getting Digital Exchange running as a Visions application, and then connecting a database and Web server to it, takes skill. Emrys recommends that Digital Exchange be installed by a consultant or an integrator familiar with the Visions environment. This is good advice, but Emrys' approach increases the cost of deployment. Once it is installed, administration and management of Digital Exchange are eased by a graphical interface. Digital Exchange uses Web interfaces only for managing the Web site. All administration, management, and reporting operations require a Windows program called EView. EView will connect to local and remote Digital Exchange servers. It also caches retrieved data to speed interface painting and reduce network traffic. However, turning away from the browser-based model deprives Digital Exchange's management interface of the security and access logging features built into commercial Web servers. Furthermore, EView's forms display in a large, fixed layout; they do not adapt to changes in window size. The online documentation is rough but adequate. Its scant detail makes it all the more clear that Emrys created Digital Exchange for integrators, ASPs (application service providers), and consultants. This is not a RAD (rapid application development) tool. EView management tools handle everything from user enrollment to order processing. The list of standard features is impressive and includes problem tracking, payment handling, and cross-selling of similar products. A wizard walks you through the creation of your initial Web site, which you can then alter by switching supplied themes or creating customized layouts.


The eye of the user

As with most canned e-commerce solutions, Digital Exchange's standard Web shopping interface is rather staid. The wizard offers variations in buttons, fonts, and basic placement (top, left, or right); spicing up your site beyond that requires customized development. Fortunately, all of the Digital Exchange HTML templates are editable. Each template file contains a mix of HTML and embedded script code. The Visions scripting language, EVT, is proprietary and is not integrated with Microsoft's Active Scripting facility. This makes scripts portable from one Web server to another and from Windows NT to Linux, but EVT developers are not as plentiful as those skilled in Perl or JavaScript. If your solution requires heavy customization, you should weigh the limitations of a proprietary approach against one that leverages standardized, or at least widely implemented, technologies.

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