By Oliver Nordlinger,
A conglomerate of global technology heavyweights on Wednesday unveiled a business-to-business e-marketplace aimed at cornering the computer and electronics arena.
IBM (stock: IBM), Nortel Networks (stock: NT), Hitachi (stock: HIT), and Toshiba introduced e2open.com, which is backed with $200 million in capital.
The site will be built and hosted by IBM Global Services, using technology from i2 Technologies (stock: ITWO) and Ariba (stock: ARBA). Financial partners Crosspoint Venture Partners and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter have a large stake in e2open.com. They are expected to commit $80 million to finance start-up operations. Each will own 20 percent of the new business.
"This will be the dominant player in this industry," said John Mumford, acting CEO of e2open.com and founding partner of Crosspoint. "The organization of this exchange is truly different."
Mumford said his primary concern is to find a full-time CEO for the e-marketplace and establish a strong management team.
As to how the marketplace will differ from those already established, Mumford pointed to three key areas.
"First, we're already in business and working togetheras partners," he said. "Second, we have a clear strategy to move forward, as evidenced by our decisions to build this e-marketplace on the technologies of Ariba, IBM, and i2. And third, we are well-financed."
Steve Ward, general manager of sales and distribution for IBM's global industrial sector, said the company's professional services has the experience to implement a large marketplace such as e2open.
"We can enable the e-marketplace to function smoothly, providing the openness, neutrality, and efficiency that will make this marketplace a success," Ward said.
The objectives of the exchange are to enable members to buy and sell faster and more efficiently.
"Procurement is too important to any company to blindly turn it over to a new firm," Ward said.
Furthermore, the marketplace should give sellers the ability to reach more and smaller customers, he said.
LG Electronics, Seagate Technology (stock: SEG), and Solectron (stock: SLR) are also part of the initiative.
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