B2Bi (business-to-business integration) provider webMethods recently announced the launch of its Singapore operations. The move will allow webMethods to extend its B2Bi solution offerings to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Indian markets.
webMethods provides Global 2000 companies and B2B marketplaces with an end-to-end solution for integrating customers, suppliers and partners into real-time B2B trading networks while also increasing internal operational efficiencies. The company has also won significant business from Global 2000 companies and key B2B marketplaces with a global customer base of more than 500 organizations. Companies that use webMethods B2Bi solutions include SAP, Dell, Citibank, Ericsson, Starbucks Coffee, Eastman Chemical Company, and major B2B marketplaces like e-Steel, ChemConnect and Ventro. Across Asia Pacific customers include SESAMi.com, United Microelectronic Corp., Asustek Computer Inc., Ultima Electronics Corporate and Volante.
Gartner expects that by 2003, online B2B transactions in the Asia-Pacific region will be worth $270 billion a year, about 20 percent of the world total. To continue to thrive in the Global Economy, Asian companies are feeling the pressure to deliver transactions online through B2B initiatives. We see significant opportunity in Singapore and throughout the ASEAN region to integrate local suppliers with global buyers using the webMethods B2Bi solution, said David Mitchell, COO of webMethods.
Mr. Manish Sharma, webMethods sales director for Southeast Asia, said, Singapore is poised to become the regional hub for both the financial and chemical industries. Banks are looking at how they can move from B2C to add value in the B2B arena. Also, with the development of the Jurong Island Chemical Hub, opportunities abound for e-marketplaces.
webMethods will continue its global strategy of delivering solutions via partners across the ASEAN region. Longstanding global partners include Ariba, Commerce One, Deloitte Consulting, i2, Oracle and SAP. In Singapore the company has appointed two resellers Change21 and Intracomm, both specialists in deploying e-business solutions.
Weve found that many of our customers become our business partners as they deploy their B2B marketplaces. In Singapore, for example, SESAMi.com will deploy our solution and then move on to implementing our solution with their installed customer base, Mr. Sharma said.
The webMethods B2Bi Solution Suite integrates business processes across the extended enterprise, spanning the new generation of trading networks and exchanges, to enterprise applications and legacy mainframe systems through broad support of open standards and protocols, such as XML, RosettaNet, ebXML, FpML, cXML, xCBL, OBI, OAG, ACORD and BizTalk framework.
