World leader in global electronic commerce GE Information Services (GEIS) today reaffirmed its relationship with FirstNet as a distributor of GEIS electronic commerce products in South Africa.
"GEIS has had a long standing relationship with FirstNet for more than seven years," states Laurent Verney, GEIS Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa. "FirstNet pioneered the introduction of electronic commerce and EDISwitch service in South Africa and, in 1992, established itself as the first major locally based EDISwitch provider in South Africa."
"During the period of its association with GEIS, FirstNet has achieved a leading position in the provision of Electronic Commerce services. GEIS intends its fruitful relationship with FirstNet to continue and has had discussions with FirstNet to review the products which will underpin this relationship into the future."
FirstNet MD Mike van den Bergh said that FirstNet was very pleased with Verney`s announcement, and was looking forward to the continued success of this strategic relationship.
"We`ve had a very long and mutually beneficial relationship with GEIS over the years, both as a distributor and as a service provider. Together, we have spearheaded the introduction of electronic commerce in South Africa, to the point that today FirstNet is recognised as the leading provider of business-to-business electronic commerce solutions in this country.
FirstNet was the first company in the world outside the UK to establish a national EDISwitch-based service in 1992. The service provider model which this gave rise to has been adopted and licensed in more than 50 countries around the world.
"FirstNet currently processes in excess of 2,5 million electronic commerce transactions through its EDISwitch servers every month. The underlying value of these transactions is about R60-billion a year," van den Bergh added.
FirstNet delivers business-to-business electronic commerce services and products to a wide variety of key industries in South Africa. Industries such as healthcare; insurance; retail (including, fast moving consumer goods, clothing and apparel, pharmaceutical, beauty and health, stationery, furniture and white goods); manufacturing; distribution; logistics, transport and financial services.
The more recent introduction of e-commerce gateway and Internet-based products has enabled FirstNet to continue to pioneer new territory in e-commerce, and to open up greater opportunities for the local electronic marketplace.
Van den Bergh sees the immediate future of business-to-business e-commerce as purpose-built mission critical applications for companies with large transaction volumes and high service and security requirements, based on the kind of readily-customisable electronic gateway solutions that FirstNet has in its armoury. The Internet also plays a key role in FirstNet`s strategy, as exemplified by the launch last year of its secure, Internet-based e-commerce service called WebAccess. WebAccess is the ideal solution for smaller organisations wishing to connect with their larger EDI-enabled trading partners.
FirstNet is also a major shareholder in the South African Cargo Community System (ZA-CCS), which allows freight forwarders to exchange information electronically with the major airlines serving South Africa. Connectivity to SA Customs is also facilitated via this service interface.
FirstNet is the market leader in the provision of virtual private networking (VPN) services in Southern Africa, a position confirmed by the most recent BMI-Techknowledge VPN Survey. A nationwide high-speed infrastructure provides the backbone for FirstNet`s quality of service network, which is relied upon by multi-billion rand clients to provide access to their mission-critical applications.
FirstNet also provides hosting facilities for mail, web, database and firewall servers, accessible via both the Internet and FirstNet`s Virtual Business Network (VBN). The FirstNet VBN provides the secure, countrywide infrastructure upon which FirstNet`s business-to-business electronic trading communities are built.
Global connectivity is available through a strategic alliance between FirstNet and BT, providing local companies with access to Concert, the world`s largest global managed data network. Concert enables companies or trading partners to link with each other in over 100 countries. The service also allows access to strategic information databases worldwide.
GE Information Services (GEIS) is one of the 12 core businesses of the General Electric Company (GE). It is the world leader in global electronic commerce, and manages the world`s largest electronic community, numbering over 100 000 trading partners. GEIS is the market leader in building trading communities for clients in the UK, Europe and the US in a wide range of industry sectors, including retail, transportation, chemicals, health care/pharmaceuticals, financial services and manufacturing.
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