RosettaNet targets SMEs with new affordable supply chain integration software

“The greatest barrier to the uptake of the RosettaNet [XML] standard so far has been the high cost of the software, slow implementation times and an unclear ROI,” says RosettaNet’s director of partner relations, Adam Sharp. “But now we have an affordable solution for smaller players [companies] in the supply chain too.” The new software is called ‘RosettaNet Basics’ and is an attempt by RosettaNet (and some of its leading IT integration and software providers Intel, HP, SeeBeyond, WebMethods and Iona Technologies) to bring the benefits of XML technology to smaller companies, not just limited to large OEMs and their partners. RosettaNet currently has more than 400 large, multi-national user companies in the electronics, IT and semiconductor industries, using its standards including Compaq, Dell, Phillips, Sony, Nokia, Ericsson and Cisco. Sharp says the new software (which is really adaptor technology for large software systems like Manugistics, SAP and i2) only costs, “between $30k and $50k, and takes only a few weeks to implement.” So manufacturers should start to see benefits quickly, as long as they have a large enough volume of supply chain transactions to automate. “We’re giving smaller firms the opportunity to ‘connect’ with their OEMs … transfer order status information, BOMs [bill of materials], ERP data, engineering change orders and other product information … Savings will come from eliminating manual supply chain transactions and reducing the re-keying of data,” adds Sharp. How does the new software actually work? Well, if your OEM customer is running, for example, a Manugistics supply chain demand planning system, messages from this system are converted to XML format by some kind of exchange server which then transfers these messages across the web to your system and other supply chain trading partners. RosettaNet aims to have 50 to 100 SMEs on board by the end of Q4 this year.