“IMA (NASDAQ: IMAA) today announced the launch of freefire inc.,
www.freefire.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IMA, as the
industry’s first free-license, web distribution model and
best-of-breed marketplace. Freefire, an online marketplace for
electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) where customers,
partners, and technology converge, is designed to be THE
destination for eCRM. Al Subbloie, whose vision has made freefire a
reality, will be assuming the role of President and CEO of freefire
and serve on its board of directors. … The full freefire site
launch is planned for June 2000. “Building on IMA’s heritage of
delivering innovative, cutting-edge software for interaction
intensive organizations, we are excited to advance a
component-based eCRM framework years ahead of industry
expectations. And, by contributing freefire technology to the Open
Source movement in the near future, the company will continue to
accelerate the development of eCRM software through the
effectiveness of the open source community,” said Subbloie.”
“Leading Edge Technology Freefire components and framework
technology are Java-based and support multiple Unix OS, Windows
2000 and Linux operating systems. The products support open
technologies such as Corba, COM/DCOM, and EJB; best-of-breed
components such as an Object database from IONA, and a rules engine
from Blaze Software, and standard integration to CTI devices &
middleware, web servers, E-mail servers, fax servers, and legacy
systems.”
“Free-License Software Freefire is providing customers the right
to use freefire software free of license fees. Offering
free-license software virtually eliminates the long and costly
software evaluation and procurement process that is standard
practice today. For example, the typical overall investment cost
for software and support in an eCRM solution can be reduced by as
much as three-quarters because the only investment is in support.
The fee structure is recurring, free of license fees, and based on
value-added product support.”