IRVING, Texas, Oct. 16, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- bTrade, inc. announced today a no charge program, designed to quickly and easily bring Wal-Mart suppliers onto the Internet. This promotion adds to the long-standing relationship between bTrade and Wal-Mart -- a relationship that dates back almost 10 years.
"As a technology partner with Wal-Mart, bTrade currently provides compression and encryption software to 900 of their suppliers," said David Lonsdale, bTrade's CEO. "Today, I'm pleased to announce that the program we have just finalized will dramatically expand this relationship by providing EDIINT AS2 client software to Wal-Mart's supplier community at absolutely no charge -- period."
At the core of the new offering is a software connectivity package called TDAccess(TM) Wal-Mart Edition. This UCC-certified solution is being offered to all Wal-Mart suppliers at no cost, and boasts the following:
- No license fees - No maintenance fees - Optional enablement fee (if desired) - Pre-configured to communicate with Wal-Mart - Automatic VAN fail over as required by Wal-Mart - UCC-certified for AS1 and AS2 protocols - Wal-Mart certified as interoperable - Available on Windows, UNIX, OS/400 and MVS
Companies in the retail industry are quickly realizing that eliminating VAN charges, expensive leased lines, manual re-keying of data, and moving all communication onto the Internet is the cornerstone of the savings that can be obtained from implementing an IP based collaborative network.
In September of 2002, Wal-Mart announced its strategy to embrace the Internet, adopting the AS2 protocol for electronic communications with their suppliers. Industry analysts quickly promoted the decision, noting the significant cost savings and process simplification to be gained by such a solution. The issue now is how to cheaply and quickly deploy UCC-certified AS2 connectivity software to Wal-Mart's thousands of suppliers.
bTrade's program is designed to do just that. Once a supplier has established an account on Wal-Mart's RetailLink site, they can come to bTrade and:
1. Register for TDAccess Wal-Mart Edition -- This is a simple web-based process that should require less than 5 minutes to complete. The registration page is located at http://www.btrade.com/walmart;
2. The supplier will automatically receive an approval code via email. With this the supplier can download their free, pre-configured copy of TDAccess Wal-Mart Edition for any of the supported operating platforms;
3. The supplier can install the software and begin transacting with Wal-Mart;
4. Because TDAccess Wal-Mart Edition is pre-configured, installation is very simple and can be accomplished with no assistance from bTrade. However, if the supplier wishes to receive assistance, bTrade offers an enablement service via telephone at 1-877-673-8157, at the prices published on the website.
For more information on AS2 or TDAccess Wal-Mart Edition, please visit the bTrade website at http://www.btrade.com/walmart.
About bTrade, inc.
bTrade, inc. (www.bTrade.com) has more than eleven years of experience providing over 100,000 trading partners in a Global 2000 customer base with universal platforms that offer secure data transport, translation and transformation applications. bTrade, inc. links e-Business partners and communities without requiring changes to any existing applications while dramatically reducing, if not eliminating, the associated risk, complexity, time, and cost.