CHEMATCH.COM has launched its first Market Trak product. The Internet company operates an online marketplace for buying and selling bulk commodity chemicals, plastics, feedstocks, and fuel prod ucts. Member companies now will be able to monitor and compare prices and trends that affect commodity chemicals through the tracking product. Initially, six commodity chemicals--benzene, methanol, mixed xylenes, methyl tert-butyl ether, styrene, and toluene--will be tracked in regions including the U.S. Gulf Coast, Northwest Europe, and Asia. A pricing report will give intraday online spot prices. Online reports will also provide news and commentary of observations about markets for the six chemical commodities.

 

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E-marketplaces

INDUSTRIA SOLUTIONS and IBM will create an integrated e-business network for Jurong Island, Singapore's major center for chemical and petroleum production. IBM will provide consulting, systems integration, and Web-hosting capabilities to complement Industria's project and procurement network technology for plant design, construction, and maintenance. The network will link plant owners and operators, engineering procurement and construction firms, and suppliers. The hosted network is integrated with companies' enterprise systems to allow for collaboration in procurement, exchange of information and status reports, shared designs and specifications, and other equipment and safety data. IBM and Industria anticipate extending their project and procurement network throughout Asia. Industria launched its U.S.-based network in December 2000. Industria is owned by online marketplace creator Ventro, Internet investor CMGI@Ventures, DuPont, and IBM. 

CHEMUNITY.COM, a chemical e-marketplace based in Europe, has raised about $7.4 million in its second round of financing. The money will allow it to continue to develop its e-marketplace that, ChemUnity says, has already attracted more than 350 registered chemical suppliers and users during its first half-year. Some of its recent funding will go toward developing electronic procurement functionality.

BIOSTREET has signed on more companies to list partnerable products and technologies on its DealXchange online marketplace. Using a Web-based appli cation, DealXchange lets biotech and pharmaceutical companies identify available technologies or products, exchange information, and make partnering or alliance deals. It is expected to streamline a process that typically takes 12 to 18 months offline. Companies that have signed up to list products and technologies include Eli Lilly, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Geron, and Anadys Pharmaceuticals. More than 100 firms, including Abbott Laboratories, Pfizer, Hoffmann-La Roche, and Pharmacia, have become subscribers to DealXchange. 

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Research

EINSTEINSGARAGE has added a customer exchange to its offerings. Launched in June, EinsteinsGarage is an online marketplace for discounted scientific equipment and supplies. It is a member of the online community of Alchematrix, a wholly owned e-commerce subsidiary of Fisher Scientific. The customer exchange focuses on individuals and is a virtual marketplace where users can sell, auction, and advertise their surplus scientific and laboratory equipment. Sellers connect directly with buyers and can negotiate their own deals.

THESCIENTIFICWORLD has added Lion Bioscience's SRS search engine to its capabilities. Designed for genomics research, the SRS engine allows for searches and queries across scientific databases consisting of text, data, and bibliographic information. The site has also partnered with several scientific publishers to offer pay-per-view access to single journal articles. TheScientificWorld is linked to Alchematrix, which holds an equity stake. Launched in September 2000, TheScientificWorld's online network offers electronic publishing services, database access, and research and e-commerce tools.

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SERVICES

CIDX, the Chemical Industry Data Exchange, has completed phase two of its project to develop nonproprietary, online chemical transaction standards. The Chem eStandards initiative was started in July 2000 with a major push by BASF, Dow Chemical, and DuPont to facilitate the exchange of data between businesses. Another 24 companies, e-marketplaces, service providers, and consultants have joined in actively creating the standards, and another 10 have registered their support. CIDX recently expanded its role to become the chemical industry's electronic standards body. The second phase of development focused on logistics, invoicing, forecasting, exchange, and multinational interactions. All together, more than 700 data elements, based on XML (extensible markup language), have been defined and 47 transaction types can be conducted. More than 1,000 pages of standards documentation also have been generated. CIDX says the standards, which are available free of charge, are ready for use and will continue to be enhanced.

 SHIPCHEM, which provides logistics management, has signed exclusive agreements with three chemical e-marketplaces: eGlobalChem.com, Chemlocator.com, and ChemDeals.com. ShipChem provides fulfillment, tracking, and tracing of chemical and plastics shipments. eGlobalChem will launch its Internet portal for e-commerce and business process management for the specialty chemicals industry this month. Chemlocator helps small to medium-sized chemical manufacturers use the Internet for the procurement of materials and services. ChemDeals offers an e-marketplace for trading surplus chemicals and raw materials. In December, ShipChem began managing Eastman Chemical's shipments by bulk truck and will continue to expand to cover all of Eastman's logistics needs.

Please send submissions for E-Business to Ann Thayer , a_thayer@acs.org

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E-Business Story E-commerce to E-business How the Internet is changing the way the chemical industry works and what firms are doing to keep pace.

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