Marketplaces

CHEMATCH.COM has delayed the launch of its benzene and mixed xylenes futures contracts with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Originally scheduled for a Sept. 21 debut, the contracts will now begin trading on Oct. 19. The futures contracts will represent 42,000 gal of the chemical and will be cash settled at contract expiration to an index of monthly contract prices compiled and calculated by petrochemical consulting firm DeWitt & Co. The new contracts will trade on a traditional futures exchange with an electronic link to CheMatch's online chemical marketplace. Last month, CheMatch also expanded its Market Trak information offerings. It now can provide real-time views of the CheMatch trading site as well as a listing of completed deals bundled with price information, commentary, and graphs.

CHEMNAVIGATOR says its iResearch System Library of druglike leads now exceeds 2 million compounds. The library database can be searched to find commercially accessible candidates for use in drug discovery research. ChemNavigator sources the compounds through an international supplier network. The library is available through customized applications or one-time or yearly subscriptions. ChemNavigator recently signed an agreement with Structural Bioinformatics Inc. that will allow SBI and its customers to screen the library in silico against protein structures in SBI's drug target database. SBI and ChemNavigator will share revenues generated from the combined use of their technologies.

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Research

QUOVIX, an Indianapolis-based software provider, says that InnoCentive, which offers monetary rewards for solving chemical synthesis problems posted online, is using its CommunityBuilder software. The software helps orchestrate communication among researchers using the InnoCentive site. Quovix is positioning itself to address business models in which organizations build and maintain communities of workers, often on a global basis. The software helps manage project information, documentation, conversations, teams, and business process flows in a Web-based environment.

SCIQUEST has signed on DuPont Pharmaceuticals as a customer for its SelectSite APA software. The drug business will use the software in its R&D organization for electronic procurement and order management, including an online catalog system, requisition routing, and electronic order distribution directly to suppliers. The software can be configured to a company's specific business practices.

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Services

ASPEN TECHNOLOGY is now offering its new Capable-to-Promise software system for supply-chain management and electronic commerce. The software allows manufacturers to streamline and speed up their sales order commitment process. It automates the method manufacturers use to respond to customer requests, providing order commitment information based on inventory, production scheduling, and customer order forecast data. The order commitment information can be used by customer service representatives in their decision-making. User-defined business rules, such as those for specific customers or plant operations, can be applied. The software will also consider alternative sourcing locations.

CROSSWORLDS SOFTWARE and KPMG Consulting have joined together to offer integration solutions for global companies in a variety of industries including chemicals and pharmaceuticals. They will combine KPMG's consulting services with CrossWorlds' business integration software. The companies will support customers in planning and implementation, integrating third-party applications, home-grown legacy systems, and website applications. Initial markets targeted by the alliance include Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

MICROSOFT has created a product--the BizTalk Server 2000 CIDX Software Development Kit--designed to support e-business interactions among chemical companies. BizTalk Server is a suite of tools and services for building business processes independent of operating system, programming model, or programming language. The CIDX kit adds chemical industry standards and protocols developed by the Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX) and several leading chemical producers. With the kit, users can extend the library available with BizTalk to include those documents most commonly requested by chemical industry customers. It will enable customers to map information from CIDX-based transactions to other systems such as enterprise software by SAP. A prototype was originally developed by Microsoft for Air Products & Chemicals, which says the software allowed it to quickly integrate with partners using the XML-based standards. The kit will be available free for download at http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/downloads.

COMMUNITY

BASF has established a regional Internet portal, http://www.rheinneckarweb.de, that provides information about the company, along with local news and events. The company says the website is focused on its neighbors in and around the cities of Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Mannheim, and Heidelberg, all in Germany's Rhine-Neckar region. Using the Internet is part of a progression for BASF: 10 years ago it printed a local newsletter, then founded BASF TV in 1996. The new portal will replace monthly television reports on company activities, particularly in business, research, and training. Unlike television, it will allow local residents to contact the company. The portal also will be used to inform local communities about plant incidents--pop-up windows will appear on the screen or electronic messages can be forwarded to users. The website is in German only.

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

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