Ariba offers to unite trading exchanges

Ariba is to launch a package which encourages individual trading exchanges to communicate and transact with each other.

Any online marketplace built using Ariba Marketplace 7.5 will be able to trade with one or all of the members of any other market built using the product.

The developer claims that the future of e-markets lies in software that will allow trading exchanges to create a virtual community. "The alternative for marketplaces is setting yourself up as an island - and no one wants to do that," said Brian Desmond, Ariba's product marketing manager for marketplaces.

Exchange-to-exchange communication will be enabled by the new version of Marketplace, using PunchOut, a cXML-based protocol. Commerce XML is a markup language standard for the online exchange of transaction information.

"There's a lot of relevant services offered by other marketplaces," said Ferdi Roberts, Ariba's managing director for UK and Ireland. "To provide added value, you'll need to PunchOut to IT suppliers, stationery companies, architects and catering firms."

But Jeffrey Mann, vice president of e-business strategies at analyst Meta Group, was unconvinced that companies would "punch out" and trade with suppliers in different industries.

"There's still not much real value in any of this cross-marketplace trading," he said. "It will happen on a small scale, but it won't be a huge part of ebusiness."

"It wouldn't necessarily be an advantage for us," agreed Mike Henry, technical director of oil industry marketplace Petrocosm, which uses Ariba Marketplace without the PunchOut capability.