Consortium forms online marketplace

As reported last week by Computerworld, a consortium of electronics and telecommunications companies yesterday announced it will launch a business-to-business internet marketplace that runs on technology from IBM, Ariba and I2 Technologies.

Partners in the venture, dubbed e2open.com, include Hitachi, IBM, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Nortel Networks, Seagate Technology, Solectron and Toshiba.

The marketplace was designed to streamline the planning, management and execution of the electronics industry's supply-chain transactions, which total more than $US700 billion per year worldwide.

Operations are expected to begin by mid-July, with additional functions rolling out over the next 12 months.