E-Business Breakfast: Beatlemania

OK, so Intel isn't using the Beatles to promote its latest Pentium technology, but Intel's hosting service is being used to manage a new Beatles Web site for EMI in the United Kingdom. The site, run by MSN, is being used to promote the new Beatles album, according to Stuart Anderson, MSN marketing manager. It received more than 1.25 million hits within six hours of going live, according to MSN.

MSN is using Intel's Dedicated Managed Hosting Service. Intel was able to have the site up and running within a week, company executives say.

"Having the Beatles site hosted on Intel architecture by Intel Online Services means that the site is robust, scalable and secure," said Anderson in a prepared statement. "This is essential, as the site is the major channel by which we are promoting the new Beatles album and we need to be able to cater for large volumes of traffic visiting the site."

Good morning! That's the first course in your E-Business Breakfast for Friday, March 16. Here are some other morsels to start your day:

Not To Be Outdone

J.D. Edwards, known mainly for its supply chain management offerings, recently shipped content management software for handling multilingual content to a limited customer set.

The package, dubbed Content Manager, is scheduled for general availability in the spring. The software integrates closely with Microsoft Office to prepare content for print, Web and CD-ROM. It also is designed to work with translation technology from companies including Trados, company executives say.

"The content management market exists in two product forms currently: Web content management and enterprise content management--with the distinction being moot by 2004 or 2005," said Andrew Warzecha, an analyst at market research firm Meta Group, in a prepared statement.

Although J.D. Edwards may not be as well-known in the content management realm as companies such as Vignette or Interwoven, the company's position in supply chain software could have an impact on its success in that market. The developer has scored 43 enterprise customer deals in the two years since its acquisition of Numetrix, a strategic move that has been integrated well, according to analysts at AMR Research.

For more information click here.

Oh, Canada

Sapient is expanding north into Canada with a new office opening in Toronto.

The services company already works with two major Canadian customers, Manulife Financial and Union Gas.

The effort will be led by Linda Lizotte-MacPherson, former CIO of the Government of Canada. "Canadian companies, like companies the world over, are challenged to increase their revenue, maximize productivity and reduce costs," said Lizotte-MacPherson, in a prepared statement. "Sapient can help these companies address these challenges through our combination of broad skills, fixed price, speed and reliability--and our culture and attitude."

For more information click here.

The Opposite Of Lay-Offs

IXL added three executives to round out the leadership team for its consulting practices.

Jay Norman, formerly of PricewaterhouseCoopers, was tapped to lead the firm's financial services division. In his previous position, he managed the accounts for American Express and Ford Credit.

Sanjay Apte, most recently the senior vice president of professional services at Financial Fusion, was tapped to act as iXL's senior IT and engineering executive. Financial Fusion is a Sybase subsidiary focused on the creation of e-banking software. Apte also has worked with Ingres and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Finally, Patrick Carter was hired to manage iXL's CRM practice. Carter most recently was an executive at Targetbase Interactive, part of the Omnicom Group. He also has worked on CRM projects for Ernst & Young and with clients including US West, Sprint and TCI Communications.

For more information click here.

That's your E-business Breakfast for Friday, March 16. If you're inclined, take a moment to send interesting e-business news items via e-mail to hclancy@cmp.com.