Planned sample sites tailored to specific businesses, such as apparel retailers, could streamline development and deployment of new e-commerce Web sites built on Commerce Server. Microsoft will work exclusively with partner Cactus Commerce to develop the sample sites and several other planned enhancements, which could conflict with other partners' plans to customize and extend Commerce Server. The company also announced a new release of Commerce Server, code-named Commerce Server 7, planned for 2010. Together the announcements suggest Commerce Server has a future, but that Microsoft will lean more heavily on outside help for ongoing product development, marketing, and support.

Supports E-Commerce Sites

Commerce Server extends Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server with a set of developer tools, runtime services, and management utilities that help companies design, build, deploy, and maintain e-commerce Web sites. For example, the product includes subsystems for creating and managing product catalogs, taking and processing online orders, tracking users, marketing, and data analysis and reporting (for example, analyzing site traffic or sales trends). The product uses SQL Server to store and retrieve data, and a sample e-commerce Web site called the Starter Site provides developers with a starting point for building custom sites.

The most recent version, Commerce Server 2007, shipped in Oct. 2006. Commerce Server competes with e-commerce products from BroadVision, IBM, Oracle, and SAP, among others. Commerce Server has about 5,000 customers, most of whom are in North America.

Commerce Server 2007 to Get Updates

The joint development deal with longtime partner Cactus Commerce will yield enhancements to Commerce Server 2007, delivered in a series of updates beginning in mid-2008. The enhancements are intended to improve Commerce Server's integration with other important Microsoft products and technologies and provide new starter sites that could help customers more quickly bring new Commerce Server-based Web sites online.

The enhancements will include the following:

Integration with SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft's Web portal, collaboration, and document management platform, will allow users to search information stored in Commerce Server's databases (such as product details) using SharePoint's search features; manage Commerce Server content (such as product catalogs) with SharePoint's new content management features; and include Commerce Server Web-page elements (such as a shopping cart) in SharePoint sites. Integration with Microsoft's increasingly popular SharePoint could help companies incorporate e-commerce elements in SharePoint sites without incurring the customization, installation, and management overhead of a full-blown Commerce Server deployment.

Integration with Dynamics applications. Commerce Server 2007 delivered a set of BizTalk adapters for Commerce Server subsystems that reduced the effort required to integrate Commerce Server with other business applications, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. However, this version lacked other components required to complete the picture (such as the mapping of data stored in Commerce Server to data stored in ERP applications). Although details are sketchy, the Commerce Server 2007 enhancements could include such missing components for the Dynamics line of business applications. For example, additional BizTalk Server components could allow a salesperson using the Dynamics CRM client to check product prices and customer information stored in Commerce Server's databases.

Starter sites for verticals, such as apparel and electronics retail, could shorten the deployment time for Commerce Server solutions in the target industries. Although the existing Commerce Server 2007 Starter Site provides a convenient jumping-off point, the significant development effort required to tailor it to specific business needs increases the deployment time and cost of Commerce Server solutions.

The agreement with Cactus Commerce includes software (Cactus will assist in product development) and sales, marketing, and support activities, effectively making the company Microsoft's preferred partner for Commerce Server engagements. However, Cactus Commerce will remain an independent entity and no Cactus personnel will become Microsoft employees.

New Version in 2010

In addition to the planned updates for Commerce Server 2007, Microsoft said it will ship a new version of the product in 2010. The company has outlined several design objectives and themes for the release, including the following:

• Rewriting all Commerce Server subsystems as .NET managed code; some Commerce Server 2007 subsystems (such as the catalog system) rely on managed code, while others (such as the orders system) are based on COM, an older application development platform
• Support for "multichannel" commerce, which could include better integration between a company's point-of-sales operations and its online operations, for instance
• Improved customer-to-customer and customer-to-business interaction from within Commerce Server sites, for example, new features could allow customers to submit and exchange product reviews and recommendations, and customer support personnel to make informed recommendations (such as product suggestions based on a customer's preferences or purchase history) while communicating with a customer online.

Although more specific details of the planned release have not been described, the announcement should reassure existing customers that Commerce Server will not be immediately discontinued—a valid concern given the lack of a consistent roadmap for the product in recent years. Most recently, in Aug. 2006 the Commerce Server product unit was moved into the Web Platform and Tools team in Microsoft's Developer Division. At that time, the company said it would continue to ship e-commerce features, but it gave no assurance that those features would be packaged in standalone Commerce Server releases. This gave rise to speculation that Commerce Server's features might be incorporated directly into Microsoft's Web application development platform. For the time being, at least, it appears that such a move is not in the works.

Availability and Resources

The planned Commerce Server 2007 enhancements will be delivered beginning in mid-2008 as a series of service packs and a separate solution accelerator, but the company has not disclosed additional packaging or pricing details.

The Commerce Server home page is www.microsoft.com/commerceserver/default.mspx.

Commerce Server 2007 was described in "Commerce Server 2007 Ships" on page 9 of the Oct. 2006 Update.

BizTalk Server is described in the Oct. 2004 Research Report, "BizTalk Server 2004 Drives Microsoft's Integration Strategy."