Appleton, WI.-based School Specialties selected Ironside Technologies Inc.’s Ironworks as
its e-commerce solution.
Ironside is a supplier of sell-side, business-to-business electronic commerce
solutions for the mid-tier manufacturing and distribution market.
School Specialties said its e-commerce implementation will be introduced in
two phases.
Phase one, known as ClassroomDirect.com, an online
source for non-textbook education products, is now available to its entire
customer base.
Phase two, SchoolSpecialties.com, will be an integrated, educational online
mall, supported by School Specialties as the traditional anchor store and
augmented by several speciality divisions that offer vertically focused
products.
The SchoolSpecialties.com site will also provide non-commercial offerings,
such as teaching aides, industry-related information, lesson plan assistance,
educational forums and chat rooms. Phase two is expected to roll out by May 1,
1999.
Ironworks is a Java-based business-to-business e-commerce application,
offering sub-second response time and 24/7 access to any host system. Ironside
has partnered with Reston, Va.-based systems integrator Proxicom to implement
and deploy the SchoolSpecialty.com e-commerce solution.
“Ironside is the foundation of our online educational mall strategy,” said
Daniel Spaulding, School Specialties’ chairman and CEO. “Perhaps the greatest
critical success factor for this initiative is affording our customers real-
time integration to the host system and self-evident ease-of-use.”
School Specialties is a supplier of non-textbook education products to
educators in the United States, operating from 14 facilities. It offers more
than 60,000 unique products to more than 108,000 schools.
