Actinic launches migration program to help businesses rescue their endangered e-commerce sites

[January 30th 2001]

Actinic Software, a provider of desktop e-commerce software solutions for small-to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), has unveiled eSOS (Saving Online Stores)--a migration program to help thousands of companies whose ASP-based online operations are increasingly at risk for disruption and even shut-down.

Thousands of SMBs have created online storefronts to expand reach and profitability. Lured by the apparent simplicity and hassle-free upkeep of outsourcing their e-commerce businesses, many of these merchants have turned to a range of Internet Service Providers/ Application Service Providers (ISPs/ASPs) that host and manage the entire operation. This seeming convenience of an ISP/ASP has always been offset by problems like network outages and slowness in accessing product data and processing transactions.

Now, however, accelerating consolidation of the ISP market provides an even bigger downside and is threatening the very e-commerce livelihood of many SMBs. ISPs are disappearing from the market in the dead of night, and even large providers are abandoning the small-to mid-sized segment of the market altogether because they no longer deem it sufficiently profitable. The Gartner Group forecasts that up to sixty percent of ISPs may no longer be in business within twelve months. In the wake of this trend, thousands of SMBs who are wholly dependent on their ISP are suddenly finding their e-commerce operations and attendant revenues at risk.

In response to this burgeoning threat, Actinic has launched a new migration program, e-SOS (Saving Online Stores) that enables SMBs to steer their online stores into safe harbor to ensure continuity of operation and minimal erosion of revenues and customer support. e-SOS enables businesses to easily move all product information - including description, pricing and images - from their existing solution to Actinic's solution within just a few days. e-SOS is free with the purchase of Actinic Catalog 4.0--the Company's flagship e-store software. e-SOS provides technical support from a team of migration specialists to ensure a simple transition. Actinic will also match merchants up with specially trained partner Web hosts and Web designers.

According to Chris Barling, co-founder and chief operating officer of Actinic, "Market trends dramatically increase the risk that a rental software offering (ASP) poses to the e-commerce operations of a small and mid-sized business. The only asset such an option offers - convenience - is hardly important in the face of losing your store and all of your data. Merchants can no longer depend on the financial viability of ISPs, and even larger players such as Intel's iCAT are abandoning the market. Actinic has always been solely devoted to quality desktop e-commerce software for small and mid-sized businesses, so our e-SOS migration program is a natural extension of our commitment to this segment of the market."

Actinic Catalog 4.0 includes a product catalog, shopping cart, online ordering and extensive payment, security and order processing features. The software can be scaled to support more than 10,000 products. Unlike with server- based solutions, Actinic Catalog resides securely on the merchant's own computer. If there is a problem with their Web host, they simply switch to a new ISP and upload their store.

The latest version of Actinic Catalog includes an enhanced interface to quickly load and modify product listings, a broad range of fully customizable design templates, a network configuration wizard, complete stock monitoring capabilities, a powerful new search engine, pre-configured payment provider set-up options and support for various tax and shipping schedules. Actinic also provides Actinic Business, a flexible new solution designed to support B2B and B2C e-commerce.

Links
Actinic Software		http://www.actinic.com