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Macromedia's ColdFusion, Microsoft .NET, and Sun Microsystems' Java Messaging Service (JMS) were used by ProFlowers, a unit of Provide Commerce, to build a Web site for its Internet-based business model, for which delivery of flowers direct from the grower to the recipient's doorstep is orchestrated, while distribution centers and retail florists are out of the loop. Ray Green of Dos Grigos, a wholesale flower grower, says flowers ordered through ProFlowers last much longer. More than 90 percent of Provide Commerce's sales are through ProFlowers, and Provide Commerce's sales for its most recent financial quarter were up 41 percent to $40.7 million as compared with the same quarter in the previous year. Net income rose from $2.5 million to $15.9 million. When a customer order enters the ProFlower Web site, it is sent through the Internet to a preselected grower, based on the type of flower desired and the recipient's location. A server set up by ProFlowers is installed at each grower's site, and servers receive and print out orders with Fed Ex shipping labels and greeting cards that go in the boxes. The ProFlowers site was constructed with ColdFusion development tools, and, for future development, ProFlowers plans to use products from Macromedia and Microsoft .NET. An enterprise service bus system from Sonic Software uses JMS for message exchange between applications at ProFlowers and between the ProFlowers site and growers' IT systems.
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