Hong Kong-based business-to-business e-commerce service provider Arena Transportation Community Network Ltd. has chosen Computer Associates’ (CA) Unicenter TNG for end-to-end management across its virtual extranet.
Arena operates an integrated supply chain e-commerce environment for trading firms which was initially focused on Hong Kong and southern China but has expanded.
According to CA representatives, Unicenter will enable Arena’s operations center to remotely monitor, configure and update its customers’ applications. Arena also will utilize Unicenter to manage its data center infrastructure.
“By standardizing on Unicenter TNG, we’re able to put the whole of Arena under centralized management,” said Arena CEO Ian Craig.
“Unicenter TNG running on customers’ machines will enable our support center to monitor the health of the entire Arena community, and to diagnose and fix
customers’ software problems,” Craig added.
By using CA’s software to automate its operations center, Arena is confident that it can scale up its business without increasing its technical support
staff. The application will control Arena’s translators, Web servers and
messaging hubs.
“Arena is a true pioneer in the field of business-to-business e-commerce.
Its decision to adopt Unicenter TNG to manage its virtual extranet is
another example of forward thinking,” said Linda Chan, general manager of
Computer Associates-Hong Kong.
“This is a genuine partnership between Computer Associates and Arena that helps make the Internet an even better business channel for small-to-medium enterprises,” added Chan.
Arena is using CA’s application to manage its recent success, according to Ian Craig.
Craig claims that, since February, Arena has been pulling in three to four clients daily and a major hub every three to four weeks. Arena has expanded its reach to suppliers and buyers in 19 countries globally.
“Subscription revenue from January to April has increased five times what it was,” said Craig.
For suppliers on the Arena network, communicating with one buyer is free of charge while interaction with multiple buyers costs a monthly charge of HK$888 (US$114).
Craig also described how suppliers, once registered on Arena, have to apply to buyers to execute trades. Buyers can approve or reject suppliers offers over the extranet.
“We are registering the suppliers but we are not giving them access to the buyer until the buyer accepts,” said Craig.
Arena’s investors are drawn from local and international transport and technology companies and include IT services giant EDS and terminal operator HIT.