"Increasingly, our clients must build and manage integrated Web services aimed at multiple business communities both inside and outside their enterprises," said Robin Lissak, PwC Consulting partner. "Through this exciting alliance, we plan to utilize Epicentric's portal solutions as an enabling technology to complement PwC Consulting's overall enterprise portal service offerings."

The portal applications will be built on the Epicentric Foundation Server, which integrates and delivers privately branded aggregations of Web services to internal and external business communities across intranets, extranets and the Internet. The Epicentric Web Services Marketplace offers a global business portal for the purchase, marketing, sales and support of hundreds of Web services. These Web services incorporate real-time e-commerce capabilities, such as transactions, trading exchanges, and order fulfillment; applications, such as email, CRM, and ERP; and content, such as news, market research, and internally published documents.   

The global alliance between Epicentric and PwC Consulting will also include the development of solutions for specific vertical industries and the formalization of best-of-breed methodologies from current joint engagements. In order to help clients with the implementation, migration, configuration, and validation of the Epicentric solution, Epicentric Foundation Server will be available for client demonstrations at various PwC Consulting Centers of Excellence across North America, Europe, and Asia. More than 100 PwC Consulting practitioners are already trained on Epicentric's technology.   

"PwC Consulting's consulting and integration experience, coupled with Epicentric's leadership in providing portal network solutions, will enable customers to streamline business processes and increase their competitive advantage," said Bill Yarnoff, Epicentric's vice president of Global Alliances. "With the resources and expertise that both companies are bringing to this alliance, customers will have access to the most advanced portal solutions in the market today."