The goal is to let all parties in E-commerce finish their transactions with an enforceable online agreement drawn up in real time.

ILumin's end-to-end paperless system is made up of three parts: an Online Signing Room, where documents are prepared, reviewed, and digitally signed; a Digital Clerk, to manage the business flow and exchange data with enterprise databases; and an e-Cabinet, where documents are reviewed and stored by all parties.

ILumin uses personal key technology for security, then parses the data from online documents and extracts the data into a database. Using the Extensible Markup Language, the Digital Clerk lets people with different security clearances access only the pieces of the contract that apply to them.

ILumin is testing the system at Andersen Consulting, Neiman Marcus, and VerticalNet, among other companies; it's scheduled to go live this month. ILumin hopes its system will cut as much as $500 from the $1,200 to $1,700 cost of closing a mortgage on a $150,000 house. The company will charge a fee on each transaction.

Alliance partner Deloitte & Touche plans to offer iLumin's system as part of a larger E-government system. "The iLumin technology will be an integral part of our strategy of building portals in which citizens, businesses, and employees can complete transactions with their local governments, wherever they happen to be and whenever they happen to need them," says Kevin Anderson, national director of Deloitte & Touche's E-government solutions task force.