Anand Deshpande, managing director, Persistent Systems Pvt Ltd, says that business consists of exchanging information/documents within an organisation and with the external entities. "The e-business challenge is essentially a business integration challenge," says Mr Deshpande. Electronic Data Interchange has been around but it is a 25-year-old technology.

To fill this gap in the market and Web-enabled companies and to integrate their inbound and outbound supply chains, Mr Deshpande's Persistent Systems has launched e2econnect, a fully customised e-business initiative.

Persistent Systems has set up a new subsidiary, Persistent eBusiness Solutions Pvt Ltd (PeBS), which will offer its e2econnect system to increase integration with a company's extended enterprise. e2econnect offers XML-based solutions that replicate real-life business documents and is based on HP's E'speak platform. The system offers interface with ERP system e-mail gateway and WAP gateway.

"e2econnect is not a portal but a distributed information exchange system and is targeted at regular channels with secured and trusted partners unlike portals which is useful for adhoc buying and selling and where vendors and partners are not screened," says Mr Deshpande.

PeBS is talking to leading banks, third party logistics providers and corporates for developing the open XML standards as XML is emerging as a standard for document exchange. PeBS has already tied up with TCI for developing an XML based transportation and delivery solution. In the third party logistics area PeBS is working with Dynamic Logistics.

Mr Deshpande is trying out a "pay as you use" model for its e2econnect customers and will start deployment from October 2000. Mr Arvind Pandey has moved from Booz Allen Hamilton to Persistent's new venture as its managing director of PeBS. The company is also talking to venture capital companies for financing growth plans.