News in View: the e-hub explosion

A $400bn electronic marketplace established last week by aerospace and defence giants will cut 30 per cent off their buying bills and help the companies using the system become more efficient.

That's according to Commerce One, supplier of e-marketplace software to the firms involved - Boeing, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

In this week's News In View programme, Silicon.com investigates just what benefits companies think they will glean from using Internet technologies for online trading and procurement.

Paul Taylor, Commerce One VP and general manager EMEA, said that besides the savings, the companies involved will see "improved business efficiency and market opportunity".

However, Silicon.com's video report revealed the transformation of traditional companies into ebusinesses won't be painless.

John Weston, CEO of BEA Systems, said: "We're looking at a real revolution in the way we go about doing business, with our suppliers, our partners, and most importantly our customers. And that is going to mean a significant cultural impact on the organisation, and changes in the way we do things."

Harry Stonecipher, president of Boeing, agreed that bricks-and-mortar firms' chances will rest on managing change well, and said it is up to the traditional industry players to learn from the young.

Hasnain Merali, ecommerce analyst at Datamonitor, echoed what Commerce One's Taylor had to say. He said e-marketplaces mean "increased speed, efficiency, and they definitely give a lot of businesses the edge with cost savings".

The full News in View programme can be seen in our Travel and Transport Channel (http://www.silicon.com/a36726 ).