SECURITY:

"The idea is to bring together all aspects of the process," says Lars-Stefan Holmberg, Husqvarna's global test manager about the business-to-business supply-chain application built with assistance from IBM. Based on IBM WebSphere, it creates an automated workflow from the buyer's order online to its fulfillment in factories. But Holmberg notes that application performance monitoring becomes critical in all this because if the application fails, it could actually disrupt the factory manufacturing of Husqvarna's products, such as lawnmowers, chainsaws and utility vehicles.

Within the space of just an hour, a disruption in workflow around buyer orders could actually mean "factories would stop," he points out.

Among the tools Husqvarna is using to do this monitoring is the BlueStripe FactFinder, which works through a software agent placed on critical servers used in the e-commerce process in order monitor transaction flow and identity glitches in the software or on the network that must be corrected fast.

The new e-commerce application is first being put into production now in the U.S. and Poland, where the company has a factory, and will be rolled out next year across the rest of Husqvarna's global network and -based links to trading partners.