For each dollar spent on IBM-sold software, 11 dollars are invested in additional software development and tools. Typical software development companies require approximately 20 people to bring a product to market. This includes employees in a variety of different departments such as management, development, sales, and marketing. A typical IBM business partner is founded by a developer and normally has anywhere from five to seven employees. Investing in an additional 10 to 15 people to bring their own software to market is always a risk.

Ancron worked with a marketing company and a development company on a cost-effective solution to build an online marketplace featuring IBM-based add-on software.

The requirements for the online marketplace were as follows:

• A simplified view of more than 1,500 products
• A simple, structured and flexible navigation
• Composite views that provide a detailed overview on each product
• Composite views on the folder contents
• A scalable architecture that allows for expansion and growth
• Search engine-friendly architecture that supports Internet standards and helps to bring traffic to the portal
• The ability to show product-related information such as documents and links
• Easily editable contact information

Due to its ease of use, robust features, customizability, compliance with standards and superior performance, Plone was chosen as the platform for the marketplace. The result of this project is the Lotus-Software.de portal (www.lotus-software.de). In addition to featuring  composite views of the site’s content, Plone's simple functionality enables editors of the website to manage its content more quickly and efficiently.

Lotus-Software.de is now online. In the first month following its launch, the website received requests from numerous banks and assurances for IBM-based add-on software. Today, more than 1,500 products are featured in the portal. After one month of being online, Lotus-Software.de  receives more than 100 visitors each day, with this number rising steadily each week.

Lotus-Software.de stores and manages a high volume of information and delivers it to the right person at the right time. This project clearly demonstrates that Plone is a total web content management solution, ideally suited as a CMS for sites depending on the rapid deployment and efficient management of thousands of products.