InformationWeek.com

Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

March 13, 2000

GEIS Splits To Focus On E-Business Services
Forms two companies and introduces products to aid small and midsize businesses on the Web

By Larry Greenemeier

Related links from our sister publications:

InternetWeek GE Capital To Flip Switch On Procurement Portal (2/7/00)

Computer Reseller News GEExpress.com Is One-Stop Online Shop (2/28/00)

TechEncyclopedia

Need a definition of a technology term? Look it up here:

Send Us Your Feedback

E Information Systems is sharpening its focus on E-business services by splitting into two companies: GE Global Exchange Services and GE System Services.

Under a plan disclosed last week, GE Global Exchange Services is focusing on Internet data exchange, enterprise application integration, procurement software and services, and trading-partner exchanges, while GE Systems Services is providing the global operations infrastructure for trading-partner exchanges.

GEIS, which will continue as a holding company, also introduced three products: TradeFusion, to provide Internet data-exchange capabilities that support a variety of data formats and protocol types; AppFusion, a suite of integration applications that provide Extensible Markup Language support and data-transformation capabilities; and FastFusion, a portfolio of trading-partner exchanges for Global Exchange Services customers interested in leveraging Net markets for online procurement.

Procter & Gamble Co., the $38 billion consumer-products maker in Cincinnati, uses TradeFusion and AppFusion in a Web order-management system available to customers on its extranet. "We have a number of initiatives that depend upon a progression from traditional electronic data interchange," says John Duker, E-business infrastructure services architect at P&G. "Our customers that don't use EDI now have a Web interface through which they can make purchases of a number of Procter & Gamble products."

GE Systems Services has more than 500 employees around the world, with major centers in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Maryland, and Ohio. In addition to its global data and processing centers, GE Systems Services manages a global network infrastructure as well as global client-service help desks.

While the formation of these new companies isn't likely to make the E-business world stand up and take notice of GEIS, the technology introduced gives a boost to small and midsize companies trying to do business on the Internet, says Christine Ferrusi Ross, an analyst with Forrester Research. "They're providing the small- and medium-business market with the backing of a large services company."

--with additional reporting by Beth Bacheldor

Back to This Week's Issue
Send Us Your Feedback
Top of the Page