Smaller Businesses Can Tell Computer, 'Go Fetch'

Compiled ByDeborah Austin GE Global eXchange Service (GXS) has incorporated Web-enabled capabilities into its Network-Based Translation (NBT) service -- aiming to help small and midsized enterprises (SME's) integrate more effectively with large trading communities. NBT lets businesses transact with their trading partners in practically any trading format. It is designed to decrease document translation cost and complexity by providing the translation service on a per-document basis. The new capabilities let NBT customers instruct their own Web services-enabled computer to connect to NBT automatically over the Internet and perform basic e-commerce tasks --such as uploading, downloading, listing or deleting transaction files -- on its own, with little or no hands-on participation. GXS, Gaithersburg, Md., provides business-to-business e-commerce and is part of the $126 billion General Electric Co.