Epiphany helps Microsoft shine .Net light

Microsoft enlisted Epiphany to showcase how the software giant's .Net tools can help develop viable Web services.

Epiphany, which makes customer relationship management (CRM) software, said it would provide a Web services version of its products using Microsoft MapPoint .Net, one of Microsoft's .Net tools.

Microsoft is planning its own CRM software through its Great Plains division. But as a provider of infrastructure software, such as operating systems and database management software, the software giant is also keen to gain business for its .Net generation of products.

For Microsoft, the Epiphany deal serves as a showcase for how .Net can work, and how it can interoperate with systems built using rival Java-based technology.

"Although MapPoint is a .Net-based Web Service, and Epiphany E.6 is based on J2EE, today's open Web Services standards allow for seamless interoperation between these important technologies," Phil Fernandez, Epiphany executive vice president, said in a statement. "

Web services is a new way to build software that has been espoused by leading technology companies for connecting business software over the Internet. Most businesses are either still investigating Web services or are just beginning to use the software to link their internal systems.