The country’s second largest wireless phone company Tuesday said it has tapped BEA Systems, Inc. to help it with its standard application platform.
Among Cingular’s first BEA-powered applications are a retail-sales system, a Web-based activation service and an employee portal that is slated to roll out this month.
Cingular, a joint venture of SBC and BellSouth
, provides more than 21 million customers with wireless voice, text and Internet services. The company said it chose BEA WebLogic for its unified, simplified and extensible architecture.
“Standardizing on BEA WebLogic means we can devote more of our resources to differentiating our business and fewer resources to our infrastructure,” said Thaddeus Arroyo, chief information officer at Cingular. “The net result is reduced overhead, faster delivery schedules for new applications, and more efficient customer acquisition. BEA WebLogic gives us the flexibility we need to adapt as requirements change and technologies evolve.”
The Cingular applications already in production on BEA WebLogic Server include POSabilities and XML Clearinghouse. POSabilities is a point-of-sale solution for Cingular retailers that allows store clerks to register new phones and activate customers in minutes.
XML Clearinghouse lets Cingular’s partners to sign up new customers through their Web sites. The system verifies availability of service plans based on a customer’s home calling area, and manages account activation, assignment of phone numbers, and credit checks.
BEA said the next major application planned for roll out – the Cingular Employee Portal – is being designed to enhance employee collaboration and communication.