We are an IT company engaged in the development of electronic commerce/distributed database software that is designed to support both government and commercial supply-chain management business- to-business operations. In this brave new world of network infrastructures, firewalls, security requirements, etc., the need to stay current with technology change is critical. The Electronic Commerce, Third Edition provides a source of knowledge that helps fulfill this need. The authors have produced a book that is easy to read and understand, and yet, provides just the right amount of technical detail to do justice to the subject at hand. The following chapters provide the right level of information to help IT managers and software engineers make sound strategic and tactical decisions regarding business-to-business implementation decisions; (2) Security Technologies, (4) Protocols for the Public Transport of Private Information, (9) Strategies, Techniques, and Tools, and (10) E-Commerce Environments and Future Directions.

A detailed and complete reference on e-commerce. This book covers the whole gamit of electronic commerce. Going from concepts through complete set-up and on to implementation and beyond. Excellent coverage on payment systems and everyone's #1 priority - security. A complete and detailed table of contents and appendix make quick searches a breeze. Complimenting the book itself is an enclosed CD which, along with many resources and helpful links, is chock full of technical setup procedures and protocol. A very complete book on e-commerce. Read it or be left behind!

If, at my last job, we had had access to this book with its compilation of the many technologies that are critical to e-commerce, we would have been spared months of research, technical errors and frustrations, and costly delays in implementing our dotcom. Fortunately, I can now use this information in my current project. Having up-to-date reference material combined in one book is not only a major time-saver; it is also far more readable and understandable than most technical information I had already collected and tried to assimilate on my own into a cohesive and fail-safe plan.

Even for someone who is building a non-commercial site (without requirements for SSL, firewalls, encryption, and the complex security needed for electronic payments), I thoroughly recommend reading Chapter 10 at the very least, with all of its valuable pointers and concrete examples of both good and bad. If more sites complied with these, I would find navigating the web a far more pleasant experience than it has come to be over the past few years.