from the EDITOR.

• Position: Business to business electronic commerce - Brief Article

Not so long ago, technology companies in the B2B and digital marketplaces seemed to be operating on a Field of Dreams model: Build it and they will come.

Then came the "tech wreck" of 2000 and a sharp business slowdown in the last two quarters, creating new pressures to deliver on what is still a technology in search of a mass audience. "With few notable exceptions, B-to-B e-commerce has been more bust than boom," wrote researchers at the Aberdeen Group in a white paper published earlier this year. "The absence of short-term ROI [return on investment] for many e-commerce technologies and the inability of most e-markets to achieve substantial liquidity are causing a backlash among businesses that are beginning to demand results from their investments."

Results have indeed been spotty, and some of the biggest and most-ballyhooed exchanges -- Covisint, Transora, Converge -- have been slow to develop. Few observers question the promise of industry-wide buying consortia and exchanges, but the logistics have proven difficult. Simple transactions are getting done, but volumes are still low and regulators have been sending up caution flags over perceived issues like collusion and unfair pricing.

"It's a very interesting and confused space at this point," the CEO of a small Silicon Valley technology firm told me. "I think it's losing momentum. A lot of these [exchanges] are just sitting in the water." Others agree, noting that Covisint -- the much-heralded exchange involving the major automakers -- had by mid-winter done only a couple of auctions.

It's against this backdrop that our special section on B2B networks examines a series of key issues confronting companies in that arena -- among them infrastructure, risk and security, payment and settlement...