InformationWeek

Key elements of the service include a common architecture for administration and security, software integration to enable downloading of payment data into customers' legacy apps and enterprise resource planning systems, and transaction-layer code to convert data from EDI to Internet languages. GXS will create a professional services group to support the effort. "We're going to have an entire suite of applications," says Bob Brooks, GXS's VP of marketplace solutions. "They all will fit into a common GE platform that allows you to connect to one place and see many invoices from different companies."

Today, just 14% of U.S. trade payables are made electronically. If any company can move businesses forward on this front, it's GE, analysts say. "GE is the largest B-to-B exchange out there," says Gartner Group analyst Avivah Litan. "They have thousands of customers using their EDI network that want to convert to lower-cost Web technology, and they already have GE Capital, [a leading] finance company." While marketplace infrastructure competitors such as Ariba Inc. and Commerce One Inc. are integrating VeriSign Inc.'s technology to provide payment options, Litan says GE alone is building a turnkey finance offering.

But GE does face challenges, says Steve Diorio, president of analyst firm IMT Strategies. "They know about transaction applications on mainframes," he says, "but now they have to switch over to the Internet, and they've been reasonably slow in changing."