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COPYRIGHT 2000 The Miami Herald
Byline: John Dorschner
Apr. 25--Only in the warp-speed world of the Internet could this happen. In less than a month, the magic letters B2B, a k a business to business, have been decreed to be:
-The true future of the Net.
-The best way for tech investors to make money, now that online retail sites have faded.
-An already over-saturated field of too many B2B companies trying to provide the same services.
-A dangerous area for investors -- as B2B stocks plummeted.
-The really true, underrated future of the Internet -- as B2B stocks revived.
There is an astonishing amount of excitement for something that sounds deadly dull: businesses doing business with other businesses on the Internet.
These are the areas where purchasing agents hunt for deals, middlemen seek markets, manufacturers create supply chains. It includes all those companies that offer consulting, software and hardware to help businesses thrive on the Net.
The researchers all agree: Far more than the uncertain realm of online retailing, B2B will form a solidly profitable backbone for the World Wide Web.
Forrester Research estimates that in 2004 about $2.7 trillion worth of goods will be transacted among American businesses on the Internet. Gartner Group, another consulting firm, thinks the figure might be closer to $7.3 trillion worldwide. That would work out to 7 percent of all global transactions.
"The B2B explosion is imminent, fueled by a combustible mixture of investment financing, information technology spending and opportunistic euphoria that is being funneled into start-ups' and bricks-and-mortars' e-commerce initiatives," said...
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