Part 4: Business-to-Consumer Integration
Part 4: Business-to-Consumer Integration
Integrating consumers can be
vital
to the success of a large enterprise. These business-to-consumer (B2C) chapters show you how you can make it easy for customers to do business with you. This part begins with a discussion of some common problems for businesses to address in order to integrate their customers. We show you how to set up a retail Web site using Commerce Server. Another scenario shows you how to use Content Management Server's powerful set of tools for building content-rich Web sites for Internet, extranet and intranet. Content Management Server helps business users manage large
volumes
of information for customers,
partners
, and
employees
.
Part 5: Wireless Integration
A discussion of solutions that make use of .NET Enterprise Servers would not be complete without mentioning integrating wireless applications into the enterprise. Microsoft Mobile Information 2001 Server is a recent addition to the family of .NET Enterprise Servers. Integrating wireless devices involves delivering information to very thin
clients
. Data aware devices already number in the hundreds of millions. This large population of connected and location-aware devices poses a very attractive target, but delivering location-based services is not an easy task. In these chapters we address how to build a server architecture that is capable of supporting
location-aware
applications. Most of the content shows you how to deliver
core
services to mobile applications via XML and SOAP. A Visual Studio .NET solution with a sample application is also included on the companion CD-ROM.
Part 6: The Future
Microsoft's e-business servers are
rapidly
evolving to address business process automation, application integration, product management, customer relationship management, content management, and business portal management. The future versions of this suite will take advantage of XML and SOAP to create a rich set of Web services that enable large
enterprises
to quickly implement solutions to complex business problems. Since these products are currently under development, we limit our discussion to the key areas of the emerging e-business vision.
Summary
At the time of writing in early 2002, Visual Studio .NET is just coming to market. The samples in various chapters feature Visual Studio .NET applications and code snippets to show you how quickly and easily you can create e-business applications. We included more samples on the companion CD-ROM to show you new features in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, Microsoft ADO.NET and Microsoft Visual C# .NET. The Appendix Sample Applications section provides a more detailed listing of the CD-ROM contents.
Newer versions of BizTalk Server and Commerce Server recently came to market as well. Throughout this book we showcase these new products and technologies to help you navigate the complex maze of e-business solutions.
Microsoft has the tools and technologies available to enable large
enterprises
to build e-business
infrastructures
today
. As the .NET architecture emerges, it will become easier to extend your e-business environment. Here, we provide you with the big picture (the .NET Enterprise Servers framework), a roadmap (scenarios, solutions), and signposts (tools and technologies, references, etc.). Enjoy the tour.