HCL Commerce (formerly known as WebSphere Commerce and WCS (WebSphere Commerce Suite)) is a software platform framework for

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

, including marketing, sales, customer and order processing functionality in a tailorable, integrated package. It is a single, unified platform which offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (

B2C Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

), with businesses ( B2B), indirectly through channel partners ( indirect business models), or all of these simultaneously. WebSphere Commerce is built on the

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

Java EE Jakarta EE, formerly Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), is a set of specifications, extending Java SE with specifications for enterprise features such as distributed computing and web serv ...

platform using

open standard An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a prerequisite to use open license, non-discrimination and extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in the development. There is no single definition ...

s, such as

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...

, and Web services. Formerly a product of IBM, the product was sold to

HCL Technologies HCLTech (formerly Hindustan Computers Limited or HCL Technologies) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Noida.It emerged as an independent company in 1991 when HCL entered into ...

in July 2019. WebSphere Commerce is sometimes referred to as WCS, however this abbreviation was originally used as a reference to the platform when it was named WebSphere Commerce Suite. Use of the abbreviation continued with users after the platform was renamed to WebSphere Commerce with the announcement of WebSphere Commerce V5.4.

Versions

1. The first version of the platform was introduced in 1996, during the emergence of e-commerce with a product called Net.Commerce (V1.0 and subsequently V2.0, V3.1, and V3.2) that was first deployed to sell event tickets and merchandise for the 1996 Olympic Games. In 2001, Net.Commerce was renamed to WebSphere Commerce Suite, releasing versions V4.1 and V5.1. In 2002, WebSphere Commerce V5.4 was released, followed by V5.5 in 2003, V5.6 in 2004 and V5.6.1 in 2005. The latest major release versions are: * Version 6.0 (2006) * Version 7.0 (2009) * Version 8.0 (2015) * Version 9.0 (2018) * Version 9.1 (2020) There are three editions of WebSphere Commerce software. Each edition provides an increasing set of functionality in comparison: * Express (note: with the announcement of Version 8.0 the platform variants offered were simplified to Professional and Enterprise editions only.) * Professional * Enterprise (note: Enterprise edition was previously known as Business Edition prior to Version 6.0) IBM provides an integrated development environment that is used to build and test customizations including changing the design of storefronts, extending business logic, and creating new business logic to meet business requirements. The developer platform is called IBM WebSphere Commerce Developer for which there are also 3 editions that pair with their runtime environments (i.e. WebSphere Commerce Developer Express, WebSphere Commerce Developer Professional, and WebSphere Commerce Developer Enterprise). As with other customizable IBM products, the WebSphere Commerce Developer toolkit runs within IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software (RAD) as the foundation Java IDE, and RAD extends the

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

environment with visual and other development features. A specific WebSphere Commerce version uses a specific version of RAD, for example: * WebSphere Commerce Developer V6 is based on RAD V6. * WebSphere Commerce Developer V7 is based on either

IBM Rational Software Architect The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. The creation of UML was originally m ...

(RSA) or RAD V7.5 * WebSphere Commerce Developer V8 is based on either RSA or RAD V9.5

Primary components of the software platform

WebSphere Commerce consists of 3 main components: * a database * an application server * a web server Databases which are supported with WebSphere Commerce V7 are: *

IBM Db2 Db2 is a family of data management products, including database servers, developed by IBM. It initially supported the relational model, but was extended to support object–relational features and non-relational structures like JSON a ...

on various platforms (i.e. Windows, AIX, Solaris, Linux, IBM i), provided with the product *

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

Apache Derby Apache Derby (previously distributed as IBM Cloudscape) is a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by the Apache Software Foundation that can be embedded in Java programs and used for online transaction processing. It has a 3. ...

(for developer only, not supported in WCS v9), provided with the WebSphere Commerce Developer product. Application server which is supported with WebSphere Commerce is

IBM WebSphere Application Server WebSphere Application Server (WAS) is a software product that performs the role of a web application server. More specifically, it is a software framework and middleware that hosts Java-based web applications. It is the flagship product with ...

, is also provided with the product. Supported Web servers are: *

IBM HTTP Server IBM HTTP Server (IHS) is a web server based on the Apache Software Foundation's HTTP Server that runs on AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, JADE, Windows NT, IBM i and z/OS. It is available fodownloadand use free of charge but without IBM support. The ...

, provided with the product * Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) * Sun Java System Web Server

Operating Systems

The following

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

s are supported for WebSphere Commerce V7: * IBM AIX Version 7.1 (64–bit), IBM AIX Version 6.1 (64–bit), IBM AIX Version 5.3 (64–bit) * Linux on IBM Power Systems, Linux on System x and other Intel-based processor systems, Linux on System z **

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version ...

** SUSE Linux Enterprise Server * (Oracle) Solaris 10 for SPARC * Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32 and 64–bit operating system), Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (32 and 64–bit operating system) * IBM i V7.1 and IBM i V6.1 WebSphere Commerce Developer V7 supported operating systems: * Windows 7 (since Fix Pack 7.0.0.2), Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 WebSphere Commerce Developer v9 not limited to Windows. However, Accelerator, Org Admin Console and WCS Admin Console still require Internet Explorer. Rational Application Developer will now run natively on IOS and Linux environments. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSZLC2_9.0.0/com.ibm.commerce.install.doc/refs/rigdevprereqclh.htm

Enhancements (new features)

WebSphere Commerce Feature Packs include new features (so called enhancements). These enhancements add some new functionality or features to the base product. Feature Pack differs from a fix pack, which is a set of correction fixes to the base code. Fix Packs and Feature Packs within a certain release are cumulative.Fix Packs for WebSphere Commerce products
IBM. Accessed on 2010-07-31. A Feature Pack contains multiple features that are installed as one package, and can be enabled individually. A feature provides a functional extension to the existing base product functionality.

Notes

{{IBM E-commerce software

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

Divested IBM products