[Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA] JSE-listed IXCHANGE
announced this week that it has signed up the U.S.-based technology
consultancy Numbers@Work to help launch its
digital inventory system, Justenough.com, to a
North American audience.
The two partners expect Justenough.com to be operational in the U.S. by the end of 2001, providing
companies with an inventory system designed to manage their supply chains with greater
efficiency.
IXCHANGE, who is providing the technology and funding for the U.S. initiative, will
provide Numbers@Work with an initial 10 percent stake in the start-up, and a
further 10 percent on
the cards should the project perform as expected. In return for the equity stake,
the U.S. company will be responsible for developing the
enterprise, marketing and promoting the project to the North American market and
obtaining staff for the enterprise.
While Justenough.com has already been in operation in South Africa since the
beginning of this year, this marks the first rollout of the system outside of the
country.
The other two enterprises developed in IXCHANGE’s incubator division, GoldMine
and Ability, have already been launched on the international stage with limited
success.
Headquartered in South Africa, IXCHANGE has offices around the globe in the U.S.,
U.K., Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The two partners revealed that they expect to attract about 40,000 U.S.
companies in the initial rollout of the technology.
Numbers@Work CEO Manuel Pietra believes that this is a realistic ambition,
considering that a greater number of enterprises are realizing that operating in
Internet-time neccesitates establishing Internet-based procurement chains.
The South African market appeared less convinced of the success of this venture
however, as IXCHANGE shares took another knock on the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange in yesterdays trade.
Stock closed 5c down at R8,50 and analysts suggested that the downward trend is
expected to continue until the incubator division begins to bear dividends.
