Microsoft Commerce Server
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Commerce Server is a Microsoft
product for building e-commerce systems. It uses Microsoft .NET technology.
The latest release of the product is Commerce Server 2009. It was launched at the National Retail Federation (NRF) in New York in January 2009, with its official launch at the MIX09 event in Las Vegas in March 2009.
With its inaugural release in 2000, Commerce Server replaced Microsoft Site Server
, expanding on the functionality of it and establishing a focus on e-commerce functionality (rather than concerning itself with document management or content metadata). It helps create e-commerce solutions and Web sites with high-performance, familiar tools that simplify setup, management, and administration tasks.
These features were introduced through the new Commerce Foundation - a new abstraction layer which unifies calling patterns of the core systems (see below) and allows for different presentation and business logic to be easily added and represented as 'selling channels'; and SharePoint Commerce Services which includes integration with Microsoft SharePoint - a new default site with 30 new web parts and controls pre-assembled. The default site can be skinned through the new page templating technology, allowing for individual pages to be easily changed by selecting a different template.
The product still retains its core systems of Catalog, Inventory, Orders, Profiles, and Marketing (discussed below).
2005 or later. Commerce Server also can leverage a number of other Microsoft server products, including BizTalk Server 2006, R2 or 2009 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS).
The product relies on components that are themselves dependent on the presence of the .NET Framework 3.5 and Microsoft's Component Object Model
(COM
). Recommended deployments are confined to Windows Server 2003
or higher.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
product for building e-commerce systems. It uses Microsoft .NET technology.
The latest release of the product is Commerce Server 2009. It was launched at the National Retail Federation (NRF) in New York in January 2009, with its official launch at the MIX09 event in Las Vegas in March 2009.
With its inaugural release in 2000, Commerce Server replaced Microsoft Site Server
Microsoft Site Server
Microsoft Site Server, first released in 1996, was Microsoft's solution to the growing difficulty of managing complex websites which included multiple technologies, such as user management and authentication/authorization, content management, analysis, and indexing and search...
, expanding on the functionality of it and establishing a focus on e-commerce functionality (rather than concerning itself with document management or content metadata). It helps create e-commerce solutions and Web sites with high-performance, familiar tools that simplify setup, management, and administration tasks.
System Components
Commerce Server 2009, which became available on Microsoft's price list on April 1, 2009, introduced multi-channel awareness into the product, a new default site (running in Microsoft's SharePoint product) - including 30 new web parts and controls, and WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editing experiences for business people and site designers.These features were introduced through the new Commerce Foundation - a new abstraction layer which unifies calling patterns of the core systems (see below) and allows for different presentation and business logic to be easily added and represented as 'selling channels'; and SharePoint Commerce Services which includes integration with Microsoft SharePoint - a new default site with 30 new web parts and controls pre-assembled. The default site can be skinned through the new page templating technology, allowing for individual pages to be easily changed by selecting a different template.
The product still retains its core systems of Catalog, Inventory, Orders, Profiles, and Marketing (discussed below).
Other Components
The server comes bundled with Data Warehouse Analytics, which offer sophisticated reporting functionality, dependent on the availability of Microsoft SQL Server Analytics module, in addition to the Commerce Server Staging (CSS) system. The Staging functionality automates the deployment of both dynamic and active content across a network infrastructure and can accommodate a wide variety of network configurations. (Some have remarked that the speed of CSS deployments is perhaps the most note-worthy aspect of this component.) Commerce Server also comes with BizTalk adaptors, which allow for integration with Microsoft BizTalk for enterprise data manipulation.Related Technologies
The product requires the presence of Microsoft SQL ServerMicrosoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
2005 or later. Commerce Server also can leverage a number of other Microsoft server products, including BizTalk Server 2006, R2 or 2009 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS).
The product relies on components that are themselves dependent on the presence of the .NET Framework 3.5 and Microsoft's Component Object Model
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
(COM
COM
COM is the original, yet still common, name of the serial port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers. It might not only refer to physical ports, but also to virtual ports, such as ports created by bluetooth or USB-to-Serial adapters....
). Recommended deployments are confined to Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...
or higher.
Versions for Windows
- 2000 - Commerce Server 2000
- 2002 - Commerce Server 2002
- Service Pack 2 (2003)
- Service Pack 3 (2004)
- 2004 - Commerce Server 2002 FP1
- Service Pack 4 (2006)
- 2007 - Commerce Server 2007
- Service Pack 1 (2008)
- Service Pack 2 (2008)
- 2009 - Commerce Server 2009
- 2011 - Commerce Server 2009 R2