Effective Sep 1st, 2010 - Web Merchant Services (WMS) has
acquired the iChapter network reservation and membership management software,
technology and server assets for an undisclosed amount. iChapter network has
struggled over the last few years trying to cover the costs of its upgraded
infrastructure and was on the verge of closing its doors. Over 40 APICS (the
Association for Operations Management) chapters would be affected. WMS and
iChapter network reached an agreement in August and officially closed the sale
on Aug 31st, 2010.
WMS will be making some adjustments to annual chapter fee structures and will
be negotiating with the chapters involved over the next several months.
Services and support will not change. iChapter network
technical staff will support WMS during the transition period lasting up to one
year as part of the agreement.
A new version of the APICS template is also being released (Rel 5.0) that now
supports promotional codes, some improvements on architecture, and other feature
enhancements. Promotional Codes allow chapters to use a different 6 - 8
character codes for each event that allows tracking the information marketing
source of the reservation and allows the chapter to invite other professional
non-profits, such as ISM, to attend APICS meetings at member rates. Other minor
feature enhancements include displaying the next upcoming event on the home page
and a back office feature for the chapter presidents to make monthly
announcements on the home page (President's Message).
WMS is a web development company located in Eureka, CA with data center
resources in Sacramento, CA. APICS Chapters, iChapter and WMS have worked
together for over a decade. WMS has the infrastructure and support capacity to
support the iChapter network more efficiently and had a very strong interest in
continuing to provide the services so many APICS chapters had become accustomed.
The future of iChapter is also secure with WMS, which already has plans for the
next version of iChapter including many significant enhancements to the service
in the years to come.