Rearden Commerce helps book Web business services

Start-up Rearden Commerce, which has been developing its software services for five years, on Monday introduced a set of hosted applications aimed at corporate employees. The applications allow a person to book a hotel and flights, arrange package shipping, and book a Web conference through a Web portal. The back-end software is built around XML (extensible markup language) and Web services protocols, which enables customers to easily add or modify services, Rearden Commerce founder Patrick Grady said.

Corporate customers pay a yearly subscription fee for the services, which are delivered via Rearden Commerce. The company intends to eventually offer these hosted services to consumers and to expand its services, executives said. Rearden Commerce, which used to be called Talaris, already has a handful of corporate customers, including Motorola and Whirlpool.