The company also plans to form a number of regional partnerships in Asia. Ariba's existing partners include names such as IBM, HP, Intel, Seagate, AMD, i2, Merrill Lynch, Arthur Andersen, Descartes, Credit Swiss, ABN AMRO, American Express and VeriSign. Arthur Andersen and Ariba have recently formed a global alliance that will train hundreds of professionals on the Ariba B2B Commerce platform. Mr Krach pointed out that one of the things Ariba sees in this "second industrial revolution" is that B2B e-commerce will drive the global economy over the next two decades.

Ariba is currently talking with a number of companies throughout Asia to act as its application service provider (ASP), Mr Krach said, adding that the ASP was a successful business model.

Food industry goes online
Thailand's first business-to-business Internet exchange for the packaged and processed food industry was launched last week with the formal unveiling of the FoodMarketExchange.com website at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. With registered capital of 300 million baht, half of which is paid up, Biz Dimension is introducing the B2B exchange, with some 30 Thai exporters of food products already signed up. It plans to attract another 100 producers before the end of this year.

The service is an attempt to establish an e-marketplace of producers and exporters-a traditional strength of Thailand. The community of users would include associated packaging industries as well as the banking and finance industries, according to Biz Dimension CEO Thirapong Chansiri. He said that FoodMarketExchange.com would prepare the industry to take orders online, to improve their efficiency, expand revenues and markets and to provide them with up-to-date information.

Such exchanges were becoming commonplace in the US and were increasing in Europe, but they tended to be buyer-centric, he said, noting that Biz Dimension aimed to help food producers make contact with buyers worldwide.

This was the first B2B play in this sector and also the first in the region, Mr Thirapong claimed, noting that once established, the company would look at the possibility of expanding to encompass the Southeast Asian region-the major source of food products to the world.

Grammy makes Net music play
Grammy Entertainment will begin offering music downloads in November, following the launch of its entertainment site http://www.eotoday.com this month. The music is part of an e-commerce service that will provide secured downloads, according to Grammy Entertainment senior vice-president of Internet business, Mr Varavij Kambhu Na Ayudhaya, reports The Bangkok Post.

He said that Grammy's strategy covered "content, commerce and community". The company also plans to launch a mobile commerce service in December.

Mr Varavij claimed that eotoday.com aims to generate 50 million baht in revenue during its first year of operation. The majority of revenue is expected to come from sponsorships and banner advertisements.

Grammy has invested around 40 million baht in eotoday.com, although the company says it is not putting a great deal of money into technology.

Eotoday.com is already collecting some 300,000 page views per day and about 70,000 unique visitors each day, according to Mr Varavij.