ECT 250: Survey of e-commerce technology

E-commerce hardware and software

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• The components of a web server are:– Hardware– Software

• When determining what sort of server hardwareand software to use you have to consider:– Size of the site– Purpose of the site– Traffic on the site

• A small, noncommercial Web site will requireless resources than a large, commercial site.

Web servers

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• Facilitates business– Business to business transactions– Business to customer transactions

• Hosts company applications• Part of the communications infrastructure

Poor decisions about web server platforms canhave a negative impact on a company. This isparticularly true for purely online (“click andmortar”) companies.

The role of a web server

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Will the site be hosted in-house or by a provider?Factors to consider:• The bandwidth and availability needed for the

expected size, traffic, and sales of the site• Scalability: If the Web site needs to grow or has

a sudden increase in traffic, can the providerstill handle it?

• Personnel requirements or restraints• Budget and cost effectiveness of the solution• Target audience: Business-to-customer (B2C) or

business-to-business (B2B)

Hosting considerations

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• Development sites: A test site; low-cost• Intranets: Available internally only

• B2B and B2C commerce sites• Content delivery site

Each type of site has a different purpose,requires different hardware and software,and incurs varying costs.

Types of Web sites

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Commerce sites must be available 24 hours a day,7 days a week. Requirements include:• Reliable servers• Backup servers for high availablity• Efficient and easily upgraded software• Security software• Database connectivity

B2B sites also require certificate servers to issue and analyze electronic authentication information.

Commerce sites

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• Examples: USA Today New York Times ZDNet

• Sell and deliver content: news, summaries, histories, other digital information.

• Hardware requirements are similar to thecommerce sites.

• Database access must be efficient.

Content delivery site

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Web hosts are Internet service providers who alsoallow access to:• E-commerce software• Storage space• E-commerce expertise

You can choose:• Managed hosting: the service provider manages

the operation and oversight of all servers• Unmanaged hosting: the customer must maintain

and oversee all servers

What is Web hosting?

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• Cost effective for small companies or those withoutin-house technical staff.

• May require less investment in hardware/software.• Can eliminate the need to hire and oversee technical

personnel.• Make sure that the site is scalable.• If you need help in choosing a Web host, contact

the Web Host Guild. Formed in 1998, it is a sortof Better Business Bureau of the Internet.

Benefits

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• Access to hardware, software, personnel• Domain name, IP address• Disk storage• Template pages to use for designing the site• E-mail service• Use of FTP to upload and download information• Shopping cart software• Multimedia extensions (sound, animation, movies)• Secure credit card processing

Services provided

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Summary

• ISPs have Web hosting expertise that small or medium-sized companies may not.

• Creating and maintaining a Web site using anexisting network can be difficult.

• With the exception of large companies with largeWeb sites and in-house computer experts, it isalmost always cheaper to use outside Webhosting services.

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• EZ Webhost• Interland• HostPro• HostIndex

Managed hosting Other hosting options

• TopHosts.com

Examples

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Requirements:• A catalog display• Shopping cart capabilities• Transaction processing• Tools to populate the store catalog and to

facilitate storefront display choicesAny e-commerce software must be integrated with existing systems:

– Database– Transaction processing software

B2C e-commerce

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• Small storefront (fewer than 35 items)– Simple listing of products– No particular organization– Example: Quebec maple syrup

• Larger catalog– Store product information in database– More sophisticated navigation aids– Better product organization– Search engine– Example: LL Bean

Catalog display

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• Early e-commerce shopping used forms-basedcheck out methods. Required writing downproduct codes, unit prices, etc.

• A shopping cart:– Keeps track of items selected– Allows you to view the items in a cart– Allows you to change quantities of items

• Because the Web is stateless, information must be stored for retrieval. One way to do this isto use cookies, bits of information stored on the client’s computer.

Shopping carts

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• Usually performed with a secure connection.• May require the calculation of:

– Sales tax– Shipping costs– Volume discounts– Tax-free sales– Special promotions– Time sensitive offers

• Details about transactions must be tracked foraccounting, sales reports.

Transaction processing

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Business-to-business e-commerce requires tools andcapabilities different from those required for business-to-customer systems.• Encryption• Authentication• Digital signatures• Signed receipt notices• The ability to connect to existing legacy systems,

including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)software. ERP integrates all facets of a business including planning, sales, and marketing.

B2B e-commerce

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Three levels of e-commerce packages:• Basic: Requires a few hundred dollars in fees

and less than an hour to set up. Typicallyhosted by an ISP.

• Middle-tier: Ranges in price from $1K to $5K+,and can take from one day to several days to set up. Can connect with a database server.Requires hardware purchase and some skills.

• Enterprise-class: For large companies with hightraffic and transaction volumes. Hardware andin-house specialists needed.

Levels of packages

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Basic packages are free or low-cost e-commercesoftware supplied by a Web host for building sitesto be placed on the Web host’s system.

• Fundamental services• Banner advertising exchanges• Full-service mall-style hosting

Basic packages

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Available for businesses selling less than 50 items with a low rate of transactions.• These services offer:

– Space for the store– Forms-based shopping

• The Web host makes money from advertising bannersplaced on the site. Each business has some controlover which banners are placed on its site.

• Examples: Bizland.com, HyperMart• Drawbacks: E-mail transaction processing, banners.

Fundamental services

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• Banner exchange sites aid online store promotion.• Banner exchange agreements are made between

sites that sign up for the service.• The BES organizes the exchanges, enforces banner

exchange rules, collects statistics about customers,and rotates ads on the sites.

• A click through count is the number of visitors thata banner produces at a site.

• Examples: Banner Exchange, Exchange-it, SmartClicks

Banner exchange sites

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Full-service hosting sites provide:• High-quality tools• Storefront templates• An easy-to-use interface• Quick Web page creation and maintenance• No required banner advertising

In exchange these sites may charge:• One-time set up fees• Monthly fees• A percentage of each transaction• A fixed amount per each transaction

Full-service mall-style hosting

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• Shopping cart software• Comprehensive customer transaction processing

– Choice of purchase options (credit card,electronic cash or other forms)

– Acceptance and authorization of credit cards• No required (and distracting) Web banner ads• Higher quality Web store building/maintenance

tools (saving time and energy)• Examples: Yahoo!Store, BigStep.com

Differences from basic services

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Midrange packages

Distinction from basic e-commerce packages:• The merchant has explicit control over

– Merchandising choices– Site layout– Internal architecture– Remote and local management options

• Other differences include price, capability, database connectivity, software portability,software customization tools, computerexpertise required of the merchant.

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Features

• Prices range from $2000 to $9000.• Hosted on the merchant’s server.• Typically has connectivity with complex database

systems and stores catalog information.• Several provide connections (“hooks”) into existing

inventory and ERP systems.• Highly customizable • Requires part-time or full-time programming talent.• Examples: INTERSHOP efinity, WebSphere Commerce

Suite

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Enterprise solutions

Distinguishing features:• Price ($25,000 - $1 million)• Extensive support for B2B e-commerce• Interacts with a variety of back office systems,

such as database, accounting, and ERP.• Requires one or more dedicated computers, a

Web front-end, firewall(s), a DNS server, anSMTP system, an HTTP server, an FTP server,and a database server.

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Features

• Good tools for linking supply and purchasing.• Can interact with the inventory system to make

the proper adjustments to stock, issue purchaseorders, and generate accounting entries.

• Example: Wal-Mart– Allows several suppliers to make decisions

about resupplying– Results in cost savings in inventory

• Examples: WebSphere Commerce Suite, Netscape CommerceXpert

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• Hardware, operating system, and application server software must be considered together since eachaffects the other.

• Whatever your choice you must ensure that the server hardware is scalable, meaning that it can beupgraded or a new server added as necessary.

• Other needs, such as a database server, should behandled by separate hardware. Database productshave large processing needs.

Web platform choices

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• Hardware and operating system choice• Speed of connection to the Internet• User capacity

– Throughput: The number of HTTP requeststhat can be processed in a given time period.

– Response time: The amount of time a serverrequires to process one request.

• The mix and type of Web pages– Static pages– Dynamic pages: Shaped in response to users.

Factors in performance

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• Benchmarking is testing used to compare theperformance of hardware and software.

• Results measure the performance of aspects such as the OS, software, network speed, CPU speed.

• There are several Web benchmarking programs.For examples see Figure 3-4 on page 87.

• Anyone considering buying a server for a heavytraffic situation or wanting to make changes toan existing system should consider benchmarks.

Benchmarking

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Web server features

• Web server features range from basic to extensivedepending on the software package being used.

• Web server features fall into groups based on theirpurpose:– Core capabilities– Site management– Application construction– Dynamic content– Electronic commerce

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Core capabilities

• Process and respond to Web client requestsStatic pages, dynamic pages, domain nametranslation.

• SecurityName/passwords, processing certificates andpublic/private key pairs.

• FTP, Gopher• Searching, indexing• Data analysis

Who, what, when, how long? May involve theuse of Web log analysis software.

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Site management

Features found in site management tools:• Link checking• Script checking• HTML validation• Web server log file analysis• Remote server administration

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Application construction

• Uses Web editors and extensions to produce Webpages, both static and dynamic.

• Like HTML editors, application editors allow thecreation dynamic features without knowledge of CGI (Common Gateway Interface) or API (Application Program Interface) programming.

• Also detects HTML code that differs from thestandard or is browser specific.

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Dynamic content

• Non-static information constructed in response toto a Web client’s request.

• Assembled from backend databases and internaldata on the Web site, a successful dynamic pageis tailored to the query that generated it.

• Active Server Pages (ASP) is a server-side scriptingmechanism to build dynamic sites and Webapplications. It uses a variety of languages such as VBScript, Jscript, and Perl.More information? Take ECT 353!

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Electronic commerce

• An Web server handles Web pages whereas an e-commerce server deals with the buying andselling of goods and services.

• A Web server should handle e-commerce softwaresince this simplifies adding e-commerce featuresto existing sites.

• Features: Creation of graphics, product information,addition of new products, shopping carts, credit card processing, sales report generation, Web adrotation and weighting.

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Web server software

• There is no best package for all cases.• The market is divided into intranet servers and

public Web servers.• Three of the most popular Web server programs:

– Apache HTTP Server– Microsoft Internet Information Server– Netscape Enterprise Server

• See Figure 3-8 for the market share graph.A more recent market share analysis.

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Apache HTTP Server

• Developed by Rob McCool while at UI in theNCSA in 1994.

• The software is available free of charge and isquite efficient.

• Can be used for intranets and public Web sites.• Originally written for Unix, it is now available

for many operating systems.• For a discussion of its features see the Apache

Software Foundation page.

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Microsoft IIS

• Microsoft’s Internet Information Server comesbundled with Microsoft’s Windows NT/2000.

• Can be used for intranets and public Web sites.• It is suitable for everything from small sites to

large enterprise-class sites with high volumes.• Currently only runs on Windows NT/2000.• See Microsoft’s Web Services page.

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Netscape Enterprise Server

• Costs several thousand dollars and has a 60-daytrial period.

• Can be run on the Internet, intranets and extranets.• Some of the busiest sites on the Internet use NES

including E*Trade, Excite, and Lycos.• Runs on many different operating systems.• See Netscape Server Products.

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Further information

• What Web software is running on a site?• Web server side-by-side comparisons

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Other Web server tools include:• Web portals• Search engines• Push technologies• Intelligent agents

Web server tools

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• Provides a “cyber door” on the Web• Serves as a customizable home base• Successful portals include:

– Excite– Yahoo!– My Netscape– Microsoft Passport

Web portals

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• An automated delivery of specific and currentinformation from a Web server to the user’shard drive

• May be used to provide information on:– Health benefit updates– Employee awards– Changes in corporate policies

Push technologies

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• A program that performs functions such asinformation gathering, information filtering,or mediation on behalf of a person or entity

• Examples:– AuctionBot– BargainFinder– MySimon– Kasbah

Intelligent agents

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Example uses for intelligent agents:• Search for the best price and characteristics

of various products• Procurement: Deciding what, when, and how

much to purchase• Stock alert: Monitors stock and notifies when

certain conditions are met, e.g. purchase 100shares if the price is below $60 a share.

Example uses