Microsoft unveils ecommerce alliance

NEWS Microsoft is hoping to storm the ecommerce market with an alliance of nearly 100 software development partners. The move was announced at Washington's Internet and Electronic Commerce Conference. The software giant aims to deliver a one-stop-shop style ecommerce service which will draw on software and services from the alliance partners. Key partners include Commerce One, Compaq, Great Plains and Ernst & Young. Microsoft represents a significant competitive threat to IBM, which has spent billions on an international marketing campaign, and Hewlett-Packard which also launched an e-services initiative recently.