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Case study | Last updated: 10 May 2002 |
TALPX wanted to expand the capabilities and offerings of its business-to-business marketplace for the lumber and panel supply industry. |
Business need The next generation of business-to-business marketplaces requires advancing beyond the ability to match buyers and sellers to providing services that enhance transactions and lower costs for exchange members. As a result, TALPX wanted to improve its offerings by adding market intelligence tools and privately branded marketplaces. |
Key challenges | The marketplace had to handle real-time trades around the clock from a wide range of buyers, sellers, distributors, and facilitators of lumber purchases. Security was imperative so members could not learn about the pricing strategies of competitors. Applications had to handle varying international and shipping requirements. The marketplace also had to be scalable to accommodate anticipated growth. |
Solution | TALPX selected WebSphere as its primary application, backed by e-sourcing hosting support from IBM as part of an e-business on demand solution. IBM is responsible for server and network monitoring, backup, failover load-balancing management, router management, and capacity management. |
Results | e-business on demand has delivered capabilities that enable TALPX to maintain its position as a leading exchange in the wood products industry. For example, TALPX can offer online contract negotiation for industry participants wanting to complement their spot-market activities through program buying. Participants can also obtain detailed reports on successful and aborted trades, which help fine-tune future sales and purchase strategies. |
Benefits e-business on demand allowed TALPX to offer next-generation capabilities and services without extensive infrastructural or other investments. |
Customer testimonial "We're comfortable with IBM's ability to handle our mission-critical business," says Steve Tonissen, president of enterprise solutions for TALPX. "Working with IBM is like having your own staff. Without their support, it would be incredibly hard for us to focus on what matters most to us: our customers." |
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