By Rebecca Rayko,
AWN Editor
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Two aerospace B2B websites were presented to the regional airline industry at last week's RAA convention. Both sites provide e-commerce solutions in support of both buyer and seller.
Showcasing a set of procurement applications at RAA was aviationX, an e-business solutions provider founded by former Saab Aircraft executives. A redesign of the website was also unveiled along with a demonstration of the various applications.
"Customers choose only the applications they need to help them do e-businesses, and the applications themselves are easy to customize and integrate with front-office or back-office systems," said aviationX executive vice president Jeff Saunders.
Buyers can use the applications for product searches, requests for information, bid comparison, and purchase order management. Sellers can use the catalog management tools, product listings, and the auction capability.
The neutrality of aviationX is what will differentiate the site from the numerous e-commerce ventures that have surfaced recently.
"We do not see ourselves as an e-market competitor to Boeing," Saunders says, but rather a neutral applications provider. "We are an e-solutions house for the industry."
Saunders says that although others have recognized the Internet's ability to address the cost issue, the e-commerce initiatives have huge hurdles ahead of them. Among the e-commerce sites, such as myaircraft.com and the Boeing-led venture, "We see only one or two of the large conglomerates surviving," he said.
The other B2B Internet company making its debut at RAA 2000 was skyfish.com, a trading hub and vertical portal for the aerospace industry.
The company announced at RAA the initial closing on its $4 million first round venture financing led by Onex Corporation. Until now, skyfish.com was a joint venture partnership between BACK Associates and Synchronaut, an Internet strategy firm.
Similar to aviationX, skyfish.com offers the aerospace industry "an independent, one-stop shopping experience that will help increase productivity and profitability for the industry worldwide," said Cameron Koblish, director and CEO of skyfish.com.
Again, the focus is not on e-commerce, but on decision-support technology. Skyfish.com will create a virtual e-procurement environment for aerospace via a transaction platform that facilitates supply chain processes in real time.
The site is scheduled to launch soon (spring 2000) and expects to become profitable within 14 months of its launch.
Revenue streams will come from transaction fees, consulting fees and various subscriptions, said skyfish.com chief marketing officer Steven Casley.
However, Casley believes that transactions on the Internet will be free in about 2-5 years and that their value-based services outside of the transaction will ultimately survive.
