Connecting Utilities to Wood Products Suppliers

W3Net, Pantellos ink interoperability agreement to connect e-marketplaces, trading partners

W3Net, Pantellos ink interoperability agreement to connect e-marketplaces, trading partners

Yelm, WA — March 11, 2004 — Supply chain solution companies W3Net and Pantellos have established an interoperable connection between their respective electronic marketplace transaction hubs, allowing wood-products suppliers and utilities to electronically transact on the procurement and sales of wood products by "connecting once" to either W3Net or Pantellos.

Pantellos is a supply chain services company for the utility and energy industries. W3Net (World Wide Wood Network) is a privately owned company that facilitates the supply chain distribution process for wood products and building materials.

Rather than invest time and resources in building and maintaining expensive point-to-point connections to multiple buyers, suppliers and e-marketplaces, trading partners are now able to minimize their costs by maximizing their existing connections to W3Net and Pantellos, the two solution providers said.

For example, Cox Industries and FirstEnergy Corp. have become the first supplier and buyer organizations, respectively, to successfully transact through the interoperable network. Combining the connection between W3Net and Pantellos with the W3Net Supplier Managed Inventory Module (SMI), Cox Industries can now replenish distribution poles for FirstEnergy in multiple locations across the United States through a completely electronic process that simultaneously updates its inventory management system.

"Electronic commerce and our relationships with W3Net and Pantellos are critical to our corporate strategy and our ability to support the needs of our customers in a highly competitive market," said Greg Campbell, vice president of Cox Industries' Utility Products Division. "By providing unlimited opportunity to transact electronically with current and future customers, W3Net and Pantellos are making it easier and much more cost-effective for us to reach our business objectives."

W3Net and Pantellos said that the interoperable connection could reduce the management, administrative and data entry costs surrounding traditional transaction processes by providing both suppliers and utilities access to various electronic business documents, from orders and order responses to change orders and advance shipment notices.

By electronically accessing shared data and business documents, trading partners can streamline their supply chain transactions, remove inefficient manual transaction processes and reduce the associated costs, the two companies said.

"We are excited to have partnered with Pantellos in order to reach this corporate milestone, which will help provide our customers the solutions they require to meet their business needs," stated Thomas Westbrook, co-founder, president and CEO of W3Net. "We look forward to working with Pantellos to not only further this initiative, but also drive the adoption of electronic commerce solutions throughout the utility industry."

The two providers said that the interoperability agreement establishes an expanded trading community from which both supplier and utilities will benefit. Pantellos utility customers can then use their existing Pantellos electronic supply chain solutions to complete the electronic procure-to-pay process.

"Pantellos is always looking for ways to help its customers maximize their current investments in electronic supply chain solutions," said Jim Neikirk, president and CEO of Pantellos. "The interoperability agreement with W3Net extends to our customers an even larger community with which to transact via the single connection to the Pantellos Marketplace Hub and provides them with yet another opportunity to streamline their business processes in a more efficient and cost-effective manner."

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