HCL Commerce
| Industry | E-commerce software |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | WebSphere Commerce |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | IBM |
| Fate | Acquired by HCL Technologies in July 2019 |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | E-commerce platform (B2C, B2B, B2B2C, D2C, Marketplaces) |
| Owner | HCL Technologies |
| Parent | HCL Technologies |
HCL Commerce Cloud—previously known as WebSphere Commerce or WCS—is a powerful e-commerce solution engineered to manage substantial transaction loads and accommodate various business frameworks such as B2C, B2B, B2B2C, D2C, and Marketplaces. Developed initially by IBM on the Java EE foundation utilizing open standards like XML and Web services, it became part of HCL Technologies' portfolio following their acquisition in July 2019.
Versions
The platform debuted in 1996 under the name Net.Commerce, initially facilitating sales for the 1996 Olympic Games. It was renamed WebSphere Commerce Suite in 2001. Significant releases include:
- Version 6.0 (2006)
- Version 7.0 (2009)
- Version 8.0 (2015)
- Version 9.0 (2018)
- Version 9.1 (2020)
Three distinct editions have been available, each offering increasingly sophisticated capabilities:
- Express (discontinued post-Version 7)
- Professional
- Enterprise (previously called Business Edition before Version 6)
IBM offers an integrated development environment named IBM WebSphere Commerce Developer, which aligns with the Express, Professional, and Enterprise editions corresponding to their runtime versions. This development toolkit is built on RAD, an Eclipse-based IDE enhanced with visual and development tools.
Each WebSphere Commerce release is compatible with a particular RAD version:
- Version 6 utilizes RAD V6
- Version 7 supports RSA or RAD V7.5
- Version 8 works with RSA or RAD V9.5
- Version 9 requires RAD V9.6
Core components of the platform
WebSphere Commerce consists of four primary elements:
- a database system
- an application server
- a search server hosted within another application server
- a web server
For WebSphere Commerce V9.1, supported databases include:
- IBM Db2 across multiple operating systems (Windows, AIX, Solaris, Linux, IBM i) and is packaged with the software
- Oracle
- PostgreSQL (restricted to Approval server functionality from version 9.1.12 onward)
The application servers available are IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM WebSphere Liberty, both bundled with the product.
The web server provided is IBM HTTP Server, also included in the package.
HCL Commerce Search is built upon Apache Lucene, the core technology behind Apache Solr and Elasticsearch search platforms.
Supported operating systems
In production environments, HCL Commerce v9.1 supports only Linux, while its developer edition operates on Microsoft Windows 10.
Earlier versions such as WebSphere Commerce V7 accommodated a broader selection of operating systems:
- IBM AIX versions 5.3, 6.1, and 7.1 (64-bit)
- Linux on IBM Power Systems, System x, and Intel architectures including:
- (Oracle) Solaris 10 for SPARC
- Microsoft Windows Server editions from 2003 and 2008 (both 32- and 64-bit)
- IBM i versions 6.1 and 7.1
WebSphere Commerce Developer V7 was compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, and Server 2008.
For version 9 of WebSphere Commerce Developer, support is limited to Windows 10. Business tools that depend on Internet Explorer are being phased out or replaced by the Commerce Management Center interface.
HCL Commerce includes several integral components:
- WebSphere Application Server and Liberty version V8.5.5
- IBM HTTP Server
- IBM SDK
- Apache ZooKeeper
- Redis
- Elasticsearch
- Apache NiFi
- Apache Kafka
- Reddison
- CoreNLP