Multi-Million-Dollar Pact Boosts Australian E-Commerce Sites

Compiled ByDeborah Austin Australia-based BHP Steel has formed a three-year, multi-million-dollar contract with New York-based e-STEEL Corp., technology provider and exchange for the metals industry. e-STEEL will build and power multi-level, private, transactional marketplace networks for BHP Steel and its value chain. The two plan to quickly advance wide-scale adoption of e-Commerce collaboration for BHP's customers in Australia, Asia, and New Zealand. The underlying technology platform: e-STEEL STEELDIRECT. Also, the e-STEEL Connect system will integrate transactional data with back-office, inventory management, and shipping systems. The focus: differentiating BHP's offer to customers through better service "and making it faster and easier to do business with us," says Kirby Adams, president BHP Steel. BHP Steel is a business of Melbourne, Australia-based BHP Ltd., a AU$7.7 billion (US$4.1 billion) global-resources company.