[Fiuggi, ITALY] Unification and ease of entry into the global B2C and B2B
marketplace will be the key to Net development in Italy, according to a
presentation by Star System Roma S.p.A.
“Italy offers a wealth of products and services that must be part of our
nation’s future e-commerce,” explained Umberto Vitale, General Manager of
Star System Roma. “We cannot wait for small- and medium-sized enterprises to
enter the new economy under their own initiative. Many of those
involved – whether in the tourism, manufacturing, or gastronomic sectors – are
not educated with regards to Web technology and what the Internet offers.
This is a major stumbling block. Secondly, those companies that do establish
a Web presence often lack the marketing skills or financing to make their
site into a revenue source.”
To overcome these obstacles, Star System Roma, in partnership with
Finmeccanica, the country’s second largest industrial group after Fiat, is
investing nearly $35 million for the development of the national portal,
www.ItalyStarSystem.com. Initially developed to facilitate Italy’s tourism
industry – in particular the 2000 Jubilee festivities at the Vatican – Vitale
expressed that the model will now be expanded to encompass all regions and
all areas of commerce.
“Already we have signed strategic alliances with the regions of Calabria,
Lazio, Sicily, and the Province of Rome. These partners will assist in the
expansion of a national portal that, eventually, will be a virtual,
one-stop, shopping mall. Whatever one desires, if it is produced or offered
in Italy, will be online.”
While France, Germany, Holland, and the United Kingdom, race to catch up to
the United States, Italy lags in Internet development due, primarily, to
cost-of-access and lack of education. The ItalyStarSystem portal promises to
eliminate the complexities of establishing a Web business for small and
medium sized companies by doing the hands-on work for them. This is possible
through the support of regional and local governments, as well as
affiliations with such organizations as Confcommercio, a national federation
for commerce, tourism and services.
Established in the mid-1990s as a local portal, Star System Roma has since
developed into a countrywide enterprise. Its early alliances with leading
industries have provided funding and technical support enjoyed by few
privately owned Web expansions.
The leading backer of ItalyStarSytem is the former state-owned Finmeccanica,
a corporation controlling a much of Italy’s industrial wealth, particularly
in the aviation and military sectors. Under the Finmeccanica umbrella are
companies like Alenia, Agusta, Ansaldo, and Ansaldo Breda. The national
portal, according to some, is the industrial conglomerate’s way to emerge
itself, and the nation, into the new economy.
“ItalyStarSystem will be fully satellite transmitted,” Vitale explained, “to
insure global speed. The cost behind such an initiative prohibits small- and
medium-sized enterprises to provide this service. Our vision is to open new
doors for all Italian business, but in particular those that are without the
required resources. It is the unification and ease of entry of the portal
that will launch Italy and its products onto the Internet.”
