CIDX, the Chemical Industry Data eXchange, will collaborate with the Gas Processors Association on the adoption of XML-based standards within the gas-processing industry. GPA will become an associate member of CIDX and will work toward implementing Chem eStandards, developed by CIDX and chemical producers, to facilitate electronic trade between the gas processors and chemical companies. The natural gas processing industry is an important trading partner for the chemical industry; GPA represents more than 100 companies that together produce about 90% of all natural gas liquids in the U.S.

 
Top

Marketplaces

Xiameter, Dow Corning's website for silicon-based products, has launched two newsletters for its registered members and prospective customers. The Xiameter Spotlight will be distributed bimonthly and offer brief updates of Xiameter news, product upgrades, and participation in industry events. It will also have longer features on product-specific profiles with links to product selector guides and real-time price quotes. Selected "empowered members"--as the site calls those who have been vetted after supplying information on themselves and signed documents such as credit applications and tax exemption certificates--will receive a quarterly Trader's Circle. This newsletter will provide news and trends from Xiameter's team of global traders with information on pricing, capacity, and market trends in the fluids and sealants industry. Also included is a one-click "Ask the Trader" function, allowing readers to communicate directly with the site's traders. Launched in March, Xiameter is a no-frills site for buying silicone products.

MDL Information Systems, Derwent Information, and ISI are collaborating to index chemical structures in selected Derwent and ISI patent and chemical information databases into MDL's DiscoveryGate. The Web-based DiscoveryGate service integrates, indexes, and links content sources for use in drug discovery, including information on physical properties, metabolism, toxicology, reactions, preparations, and suppliers. With the indexing and linking of Derwent and ISI databases, DiscoveryGate users will be able to search all the information with a single query.

 
Top

Companies

Chemfinet, a Web-based, custom chemical sourcing service, has set up a joint venture with Societé Suisse de Explosifs (SSE) and its subsidiary Valsynthese. SSE specializes in nitration-oxidation chemistry. In March 2001, International Specialty Chemicals, a custom chemicals broker, acquired Chemfinet. ISC will become the exclusive representative for Valsynthese in the U.S. and will be able to offer chemical products from a facility meeting current Good Manufacturing Practices. SSE sees the alliance as a way to get immediate access to U.S. drug industry customers.

Inpharmatica has launched Biotech Biopendium, a proteome annotation resource, and PharmaCarta, an informatics-driven drug discovery platform. Previously, only large drug companies--including Pfizer, Serono, and Genentech--had subscribed to the Biopendium tool for target prioritization, target data mining, and microarray analysis. The company is now offering it to smaller biotech firms, with a minimum of two users and up to 15. And instead of requiring a server and Oracle database license, Inpharmatica is providing a hosted version. Separately, PharmaCarta--which integrates chemogenomics and bioinformatics tools to validate targets, leads, and therapeutic approaches--is available only to the company's drug discovery collaborative partners.

Top

RECOGNITION

Chemical producers made CIO Magazine's list of the Top 100 companies that are making progress toward integrating their computing systems across their entire enterprises. In its Aug. 15 issue, the publication, which targets corporate chief information officers, named BP, Cabot, Dow Chemical, Eastman Chemical, FMC, PolyOne, Quaker Chemical, and Solutia among the CIO-100 leaders. Also named were Procter & Gamble; Goodyear Tire & Rubber; and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague. Biotechnology company ILEX Oncology was credited with the creation of an enterprisewide database to manage the development of new cancer drugs. Dow, named for the seventh time by the magazine, took only one year after its merger with Union Carbide to integrate enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. Similarly, BP was acknowledged for its decision to outsource most of its information technology operations and retain only the core of Amoco's ERP system after their merger. Eastman and PolyOne were also recognized for postmerger and postacquisition integration efforts. FMC stood out for maintaining direct connections with significant trading partners, whereas Quaker Chemical deployed its intranet/extranet system to provide employee, customer, supplier, and partner access to enterprise business applications. Solutia integrated its process control systems, including more than 60 servers and hundreds of applications. And on a global scale, OPCW implemented a relational database that pools multinational chemical weapons data with inspection work.

Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society

E-Business Story E-COLLABORATION Companies are exploring software packages to create internal and external online workplaces

Cover Story COUNTING DOWN TO ZERO Debate is heating up in Congress over whether to reinstate Superfund taxes as reserve runs out of money

Please send submissions for E-Business to Ann Thayer, a_thayer@acs.org E-mail this article to a friend Print this article E-mail the editor