Tilion give enterprises on-demand supply-chain visibility
TILION IS SCHEDULED to unveil Monday a new Internet-based out-sourced service designed to give enterprises on-demand supply-chain visibility.
The new service, which will be launched at the Demo 2001 conference in Phoenix, uses sniffers -- programs that scan EDI transactions for particular data -- to collect information from multiple disparate sources in a supply chain. The company then analyzes that data as part of the subscription-based service and presents it to customers as a report card on its suppliers, said Christopher Stone, president and CEO of Maynard, Mass.-based Tilion.
"It's all about events," Stone said. "It's all about what went wrong and how can I fix it? What we've built is a way to collect data . . . aggregate it, and report it in real time. You as a user can have visibility into your supply chain that you've never had before."
The software, which is deployed behind a customer's firewall, sits above e-procurement systems and supply-chain management software to pull data quickly from EDI transactions to create a single, unified view of complex, multiprocess operations, he said. This allows enterprises to select suppliers based on actual performance as opposed to relationships or price.
GE Global Exchange Services, of Gaithersburg, Md., is piloting the service and may offer it to its exchange customers, said Frank Campagnoni, CTO and vice president of marketplace solutions at GE GXS.
The service can provide enterprises with data they need to take action to mold more efficient supply chains, Campagnoni said.
"[The technology can show] how well are my suppliers matching up my orders?" Campagnoni said. "Are they arriving in a timely fashion? They can use that information in terms of managing their own production schedules."
For large businesses that often cannot aggregate total expenditures across multiple divisions because of disparate systems, the Tilion service could integrate that data, he added.
"You can start understanding what our buying patterns are, what our transaction patterns are, and use that information to negotiate with suppliers," Campagnoni said.
» posted by ITworld staff
InfoWorld
Symantec Backup Exec 12 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8 deliver industry leading Windows data protection and system recovery. Download this whitepaper to find out the top reasons to upgrade and how to get continuous data protection and complete system recovery.
Data and system loss — from a hard drive failure, malicious attack, natural disaster, or simple human error — can happen anytime. Don’t leave your business vulnerable. Make sure you have a secure recovery strategy in place. Symantec's latest backup and system recovery technology can efficiently restore critical applications, individual emails and documents and even restore your entire system in minutes in the event of a loss.
Businesses face a growing challenge to ensure that the IT environment is properly protected. Backup Exec 12 integrates with other applications in the Symantec family of products, to complement your current data protection strategy, keep your data securely backed up and make it recoverable when you need it most.
