Tantau Software International Inc. unveiled an open mobile e-commerce platform, built specifically for the enterprise customer, that bypasses the typical constraints placed by carriers and operators on access to mobile Web sites.
Tantau claims its software provides businesses with a multiplatform solution that takes full advantage of “m-commerce” without sacrificing security, scalability or a direct link to the customer.
“Tantau puts an enterprise in direct control of the customer relationship so they are in a better position to understand their customers, offer personalized services and build customer loyalty,” commented John Sims, chief executive officer of Tantau.
As the company points out, wireless carriers today are creating proprietary gateways that control the access to Web sites by mobile customers. These carriers then leverage their gateways to develop exclusive relationships with individual enterprises, resulting in limitations on the Web sites a mobile user can access.
With this limited access, the enterprise loses direct customer control as well as completely secure transactions because the transaction happens outside the enterprise’s own Web infrastructure.
Security is increased with the new software because it lets the enterprise’s secure server work from the device to the data center without having to travel through the cellular carrier’s Wireless Application Protocol server.
Tantau’s software already is being used by 15 trial enterprises worldwide, including a bank in Finland, Merita Nordbanken, which expects 20 percent of its customers to switch to wireless transactions, using the new software, by the end of this year.
