B2B Integration : A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce

360 B2B Integration — A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce
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! Wap
'. Terminal
Wifeless Network
WTLS
I
WAP Application Server
Intranet / Internet
Figure 12.5. — Solution with a WAP application inside the company
The WAP application server consists of a WML encoder, WMLScript
compiler, protocol adapters, application logic, content database and
WML decks with WML scripts. This way the company can set up the
WAP architecture with only one internal machine.
12.5. B2B Wireless Applications
B2B wireless applications enable companies to communicate with their
users' and customers' wireless devices, delivering business-critical and
time-sensitive information. According to H. C. Wainwright & Co., the
total wireless applications revenue opportunity will reach US $15 to
$18 billion for the consumer market and about $250 billion for the
business segment within ten years.
Several B2B software vendors, including Vignette and Broadvision
are providing solutions to allow a company's employees, customers and
trading partners to conduct such business-to-business (B2B) transactions
as purchasing from catalogs, approving requisitions or accessing backend
applications directly from their handheld devices.
Let us explore business uses of the mobile Internet and different
B2B wireless applications.
12.5.1. Business uses of the mobile Internet
A corporate requirement to communicate with peripatetic staff working
away from their offices is not a recent development. Since the dawn of
civilization, the movement of goods and people between cities and
towns, or between countries and continents, has been a fundamental