In an October 2000 EC Outlook article entitled What Can P2P Do For B2B?, we looked at a few possible uses of peer-to-peer networking, and I asked readers for suggestions on what they might add.
As I watched the e-mail pour in over the next several days, I came to the stark realization that ECommerce Guide readers are undoubtedly the top 1% of the innovators on the Internet today, and I''d like to share that reality with everyone else.
This week we''re going to take a look at what you had to say in the hope of synergyzing these ideas into entirely new innovations that may well change the world as we know it today.
Reader submissions tended to fall into these categories:
- Supply chain automation
- Collaboration
- Message exchange
- Knowledge sharing
- Advancing P2P
- Research
- Distributed caching of Web content
- Miscellaneous
Supply Chain Automation
One reader wrote about Net Market Makers who act as peers to manage the activities of procurement, fulfillment, and inventory controls. The supply chain engine (scEngine) is the glue that ties together a private e-commerce environment for all Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP) data and activities. More information about this is available at the Supply Chain Web site.
Another reader would like to see P2P used for public Request for Quotes (RFQs) to open up the possibilities of finding goods or services in markets otherwise inaccessible or impractical due to time and distance constraints.
IMaestro is being used to expand on the distributed auctions idea. It offers a plug-in to enable the core applications of messaging, data exchange, chat, e-mail, building of communities, and other real-time messaging features. It also provides a framework for developers to exploit these features in their own applications for peer users of the system. IMaestro is now being piloted for auctions where auction meta-data is centrally stored and interested bidders can search for items of interest. When a search is successful, bidders are then re-directed to the peer system where they can chat with the item owner, exchange data and images, and place their bids. Furthermore, peers can up-sell other peer auctions to help move goods faster. For example, a person selling cameras could easily display the auctions from other peers who are offering camera lenses for sale. For more information about iMaestro, visit the iMaestro Web site.
Collaboration
Consilient.com''s software is designed to eliminate the barriers to collaborative partnering by aggregating data and automating common business processes. More information about Consilient may be found on the Consilient Web site.
It seems that P2P has also found its way to Wall Street! The WorldStreet.Net B2B E-commerce system ties together the buy and sell sides of global capital markets by automating the interactions of portfolio managers. WorldStreet Net is planned as the platform that will be behind Wall Street''s biggest deals. Look for more about WorldStreet Net at the Worldstreet Web site.
Within the journalistic spectrum, one reader believes that P2P can help to eliminate the ''plague'' of phone calls, faxes, and e-mailed press releases to the media. His idea is to connect journalists with trusted and reliable newsmakers through P2P technology to gain real-time access to newsworthy material.
Message Exchanges
Trademail.com is offering a free program to advance messaging between traders to the next level. Trademail is designed to automate the daily aspects of exchanging offers for buying and selling, build and manage contacts lists, and manage message archives. A demo of TradeMail is available on the TradeMail Web site.
IE 7
Firefox 2.0
