Microsoft, Siebel Aim for Application Integration

Microsoft Monday announced a “major expansion” of its
strategic relationship with Siebel Systems , under which
the two firms will jointly engineer Siebel’s customer relationship
management (CRM) software for Microsoft’s .NET architecture.

Together, the two companies hope to capitalize on the possibilities of Web
services by utilizing the technology’s capabilities to provide application
integration above and beyond system integration.

Through the deal, Siebel has agreed to make Microsoft’s Visual Studio .NET
development suite its primary development toolset, and joint engineering
teams based in development laboratories in Redmond, Wash. and San Mateo,
Calif. will benchmark test, cross-certify and integrate Siebel applications
with Microsoft platform software.

The partners said their pact will focus on three initiatives:

• Implementing and executing Siebel Integration Business Processes on
  Universal Application Network using Microsoft’s BizTalk Server and Visual
  Studio .NET design tools
• Enhancing the interactivity of the Siebel Smart Client using .NET
  technologies, allowing Siebel’s eBusiness Applications to integrate more
  tightly with Microsoft Office, and to support deployment on emerging mobile
  devices
• Optimizing Siebel’s eBusiness Applications for the Windows Server
  operating systems, SQL Server and the .NET Framework.

By combining Universal Application Network and BizTalk Server, the partners
hope to give joint customers the ability to deploy cross-application,
industry-specific business processes that can connect all of an
enterprise’s applications — not just CRM, enterprise resource management
(ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) apps — in ways that support the
customer’s unique needs.

BizTalk Server will bring that capability to Universal Application Network
through its support for the BPEL4WS (Business Process Execution Language
for Web Services) specification, published by the Web Services Interoperability (WS-I) organization in August. An
XML flow language, BPEL4WS allows companies to describe business processes
that include multiple Web services and standardize message exchange
internally and between partners.

Meanwhile, the work on Smart Client is intended to create a better user
interface for Siebel applications, as well as to extend the firm’s
eBusiness Applications to a broader array of mobile devices, including
smart devices.

The companies agreed to put a multimillion dollar marketing investment
behind the deal, with a single point of interaction for joint customers
across sales, marketing and customer support.

RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS

• Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  December 16, 2020

• AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  December 11, 2020

• Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  December 04, 2020

• Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 18, 2020

• Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  November 10, 2020

• Top 10 AIOps Companies

  FEATURE |  By Samuel Greengard,
  November 05, 2020

• What is Text Analysis?

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 02, 2020

• How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 29, 2020

• Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 23, 2020

• The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 16, 2020

• Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  October 07, 2020

• Finding a Career Path in AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  October 05, 2020

• CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  September 25, 2020

• Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 25, 2020

• Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  September 22, 2020

• NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 18, 2020

• Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 14, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 13, 2020

• IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 11, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  September 09, 2020