Microsoft Commerce Server
Microsoft Commerce Server is a Microsoft product for building e-commerce systems using Microsoft .NET technology. History. In 1996, Microsoft purchased the core software that formed the basis for the Commerce Server product line from eShop. eShop was co-founded by Pierre Omidyar, one of the founders of eBay. In 1997, the software was re-branded to Microsoft Merchant Server, then Microsoft Site Server, eventually being renamed to Microsoft Commerce Server in 2000. Initially released in 2000, Commerce Server replaced Microsoft Site Server, expanding on the functionality and establishing a focus on e-commerce functionality (rather than  concerning itself with document management or content metadata). It helped to create an e-commerce solution or web site with high-performance, familiar tools designed to simplify setup, management, and administration tasks. The last version of the Microsoft-developed product is Microsoft Commerce Server 2009 R2. Microsoft continued to honor extended support of Commerce Server 2009 through 2019. Sitecore now takes responsibility for developing, selling, and supporting the Commerce Server product. The latest release is Sitecore Commerce Server 11, released in 2014. History in the UK. Used extensively by a number of middle to large UK retailers, Commerce Server gained  considerable traction in the early 2000s. Primarily implemented by Microsoft Partners, the following were sites that at one point were running on a Commerce Server foundation: 1990s: 2000-2010 2010 - onwards UK Microsoft Commerce Server Implementors. The following companies were responsible for the vast majority of Microsoft Commerce led ecommerce implementation. Components. System components. Commerce Server 2009, which became available on Microsoft's price list on 1 April 2009, introduced multichannel awareness into the product, a new default site (running in Microsoft's SharePoint product), including 30 new web parts and controls, and WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you -get) editing experiences for business people and site designers. These features were introduced through the new "Commerce Foundation" - an abstraction layer that unifies calling patterns of the core systems (see below) and allows for different presentation and business logic to be easily added and represented as 'selling channels'; and "SharePoint Commerce Services" which includes integration with Microsoft SharePoint - a new default site with 30 new web parts and controls pre-assembled. The default site can be skinned through the new page templating technology, allowing for individual pages to be easily changed by selecting a different template. The product still retains  its core systems of Catalog, Inventory, Orders, Profiles, and Marketing. Other components. The server comes bundled with Data Warehouse Analytics, which offer sophisticated reporting functionality, dependent on the availability of Microsoft SQL Server Analytics module, in addition to the Commerce Server Staging (CSS) system. The Staging functionality automates the deployment of both dynamic and active content across a network infrastructure and can accommodate a wide variety of network configurations. (Some have remarked that the speed of CSS deployments is perhaps the most note-worthy aspect of this component.) Commerce Server also comes with BizTalk adaptors, which allow for integration with  Microsoft BizTalk for enterprise data manipulation. Related technologies. The product requires the presence of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or later. Commerce Server also can leverage a number of other Microsoft server products, including BizTalk Server 2006, R2, or 2009 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). .NET Framework 3.5 and Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) are also required, as the other components used by this product are dependent on these technologies. Recommended deployments are confined to Windows Server 2003 or higher. Future development. The Microsoft Commerce Server business was outsourced to Cactus Commerce (Gatineau, Quebec, Canada) in 2007. After Ascentium  purchased Cactus Commerce along with the Microsoft Commerce Server business in 2011, they re-branded the software to Ascentium Commerce Server. Ascentium later re-branded itself as SMITH and split off the Commerce Server product division into a subsidiary known as CommerceServer.net. In November 2013, Sitecore acquired CommerceServer.net. In August 2014, Sitecore released Sitecore Commerce Server 11.