Stories about: Verticalnet

The Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) has made available the first public draft of a specification aimed at providing a standard way to model business processes across heterogeneous systems both inside and beyond the firewall.

Fresh off the heels of last week's improved second quarter financial results, VerticalNet Inc. is rolling out this week its new sourcing and procurement applications, while eyeing the supply-chain visibility market.

Business-to-business Web sites are not using Internet technology to its best advantage, and run the risk of alienating potential buyers, according to a new survey by Jupiter Media Metrix Inc.

VerticalNet Inc., a provider of business-to-business e-commerce solutions, announced that it will integrate technology from Nextlink Communications Inc., a global trade management solutions provider, into its technology platforms.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and VerticalNet Inc. have joined forces in a partnership that will provide PwC's application integration services to VerticalNet customers using that company's direct procurement software solution suite.

EqualFooting.com's mission: to give small companies power to buy online everything needed to run a business.

Motive Communications Inc., which provides software for online customer service, next week will announce a set of prepackaged, reusable software components that makes it easier to embed customer service features into complex, e-business applications.

Microsoft took the wraps off of a new initiative and partnerships designed to help companies establish a multi-channel sell-side business presence and conduct commerce over the Internet at a gathering here on Monday.

For an outfit born around the time your grandfather was snapping action shots with his Brownie camera, Eastman Chemical Co. has developed a notably forward-thinking e-business strategy. The $4.6 billion, 80-year-old chemical maker began experimenting with its first e-business effort-a humble intranet-in 1994, the same year Eastman Kodak spun it off as an independent company. Since then, Eastman has opened a customer center on the Web, begun buying raw materials online, unveiled a supply-chain integration initiative, and invested millions in dotcom startups and new e-commerce technology vendors (it aims to invest $25 million to $50 million by the end of this year). It has also hatched two independent e-business ventures, virtual logistics provider ShipChem.com (a joint venture with Global Logistics Technologies) and a B2B marketplace called PaintandCoatings.com (a joint venture with trading exchange VerticalNet Inc.).

They have names like National Hog Farmer and Home Textiles Today. They're accused of being too cozy with the industries they cover, which supply the advertising. Their reporters don't appear on Charlie Rose. No wonder trade publications are often viewed as the dowdy stepsisters of consumer magazines, reliably churning out useful but dull copy while their glamorous siblings get all the attention.

In the complex and fragmented world of the Internet, a simple product or service search can often turn up thousands of links that have little to do with what is actually sought. For businesses looking for partners or suppliers, the lack of efficient catalogues can lead to even greater headaches as opportunities slip by.