Dutch ASP EC-Gate has
teamed with telecoms equipment manufacturer Ericsson and telecoms carrier Telfort to add wireless
capability to its hosted vertical marketplace solution.
In what it described as the first global launch of a wireless ASP, EC-Gate
made the announcement simultaneously today at conferences in Holland, Brazil
and Canada.
The first live implementation of the technology is for EC-Bouw, a vertical
trading marketplace for the Dutch construction industry, which EC-Gate
launched in 1998 and which it now operates as a proof-of-concept for its
capabilities. The ASP has subsequently built and hosted vertical portals for
customers in Canada, the UK and Europe for customers in a variety of
industries.
The addition of wireless capability, which will enable participants to look
up information and place or receive orders from mobile phones and appliances
while on the road, comes as a result of development work with Swedish
telecoms equipment giant Ericsson and wireless communications provider
Telfort, a joint venture between British Telecom and the Netherlands
Railways (NS).
“We are able to establish a whole new level of interaction within the B2B
markets,” said Sebastian Kuntz, CEO of EC-Gate. “EC-Gate offers businesses
a wide array of services ranging from online trading communities to advanced
back-office solutions, allowing all participants to transact business via
fixed or mobile devices, regardless of company size or in-house technology.”
The triple announcement was made at the Bouw-RAI exhibition in Amsterdam,
the Americas Telecom conference in Rio de Janeiro, and the ITAC Procurement
conference in Ottawa.
EC-Gate recently announced receiving a $10.5m investment led by European
venture capital company 3i
group, with participation by Dutch, Japanese and North American VC firms
and individuals. (See ASPnews.com story, Europe invests in
ASPs, Mar 31st).
• Read analysis of EC-Gate’s business model in the April ASP News Review newsletter