Keith Lane

Keith Lane IT Researcher Consignia Plc

A: The answer to this question differs by both company size and market segment.

Most companies are focusing on building point-to-point links with their current partners and suppliers.Larger companies are creating private exchanges.Although a few notable public exchanges are being developed by industry consortiums--such as the automotive, chemical and energy industries--the public exchanges are not taking off to the extent originally predicted.The healthcare industry is implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by federal mandate, and RosettaNet implementations are proceeding in high-tech manufacturing.