Intuit, Inc.'s Distribution Management Solutions division released Eclipse Business Connect XML, a new technology to benefit wholesale distributors by extending their reach to customers and vendors via a secure, online channel. This enables them to automatically process more inter-company transactions, and improve customer satisfaction and partner relations.

Different from existing interchange technologies such as electronic data exchange, value-added network and portal solutions, Eclipse Business Connect XML offers a toll-free, real-time option for Web communications and commerce.

"I've seen more customer interest in XML-based electronic trading over the past year than I've seen in the last five years combined," says Dave Cahill, vice president of information technology at Van Meter Industrial, a 70-year-old distributorship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "When one of our biggest customers decided to trade electronically, we immediately turned to [Intuit]....By using [XML] and eliminating VAN charges, we estimate we could save as much as $3,000 per customer."

XML is based on the extensible markup language, a flexible way to create standard information formats and share both the format and data via the Web. It lets disparate business systems share data and interact electronically. It also acts as a secure, electronic interchange from the Eclipse platform to and from vendors, customers, partners and e-marketplaces.