CMS is one of the top UK distributors of media/IT data storage and digital consumer products. The company turn-over exceeds ˆ150 million per year. The CMS Store 2 represents over 40 key manufacturers are offers 3000 plus products.

CMS Store 2 is an online e-commerce application that encompasses the interaction of the company with its business partners, clients and prospects/potential partners. This business-to-business online-trading tool incorporates a quotation generation system to be utilised by CMS customers to compile price offers for end-users and third-party organisations.

This multi-functional solution can be used to browse for, search and compare products as well as place online orders. Users can keep up-to-date with special offers, latest developments in the area of storage technology, as well as industry news and events.

The project scope involved the design and implementation of challenging synchronization services that provide for real-time communication with the client’s ERP system.

CMS Store 2 is designed to guarantee the intuitive process-flow for all user types. The site supports multiple languages and access permissions, as well as different views tailored for the specific needs of customers and vendor partners.

Several third party solutions have been integrated in the revenue generating system, amongst which freeware API and paid third-party software systems, such as a credit card payment integration system and a banner management solution.

The system is being expanded to include instant messaging solutions, an API for a site blog, auction functionality with an integrated bidding system, and micro sites (co-branding) etc.

The solution is based on .Net Framework 2.0 with AJAX technology and Microsoft SQL server 2005.