(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Intel Handles Most Taiwan Clients via E-Commerce Links
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December 23, 1998 (TAIPEI) -- Intel Corp. is paving the
way for an even larger electronic-commerce
infrastructure by handling purchase orders from 80
percent of Taiwan clients through e-commerce links.
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The microprocessor giant is applying the practice of e-commerce to other Asian countries as well.
In July 1998, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based microchip
company started implementing business-to-business e-commerce in 30 countries, with 200 major distributors and
OEM contractors. The new mechanism is expanding rapidly,
according to Intel.
In addition to handling transactions, Intel's Web site is
accessed an average of 1.2 million times a day.
Taiwan is an early adapter, with more than 80 percent of
Intel's Taiwan-based clients dealing with the company
through the Internet. Among those companies are Acer
Inc. and Synnex Technology International Corp. Acer is
Taiwan's leading brand for PCs and related products, and
Synnex has the largest IT product distribution network.
Synnex president S.W. Du said that e-commerce helps solve
the inventory problems that had plagued Taiwan's
industry in recent years. With speedy product data from
component suppliers, system vendors and manufacturers,
Synnex can quickly allocate resources and respond to
market needs, Du said.
In addition to business-to-business features, Synnex's
utilization of the Internet enables customers to track
items sent for repair. Also, transaction descriptions at
various retail points are available for consumers to
compare and shop.
In the early stage of its project, Intel conducted an
evaluation of the Internet's performance, including
Taiwan's infrastructure and local connectivity issues.
Monitoring systems were installed to identify which part
of the data route suffered jams. Also, Intel analyzed PC
limitations, LAN firewalls and ISP access issues to
identify and resolve major bottlenecks.
Intel teamed with the Institute for Information Industry
(III) to promote e-commerce awareness, and collaborated
with Hinet and SEEDNet (major ISPs) to bolster the
backbone bandwidth. In addition to a 155mbps ATM
network, Hinet plans to increase its 60mbps backbone to
80mbps in February 1999.
"Hinet and SEEDNet are competitors, so it's amazing that
they are willing to work together to resolve problems,"
said Soohaeng Oh, director of Electronic Commerce, Asia
Pacific, Intel Semiconductor Ltd.
"Local IT managers are willing to invest in bandwidth
expansion and make such decisions quickly," Oh noted.
That's a big jump from the days when IT firms focused
solely on cost-reduction in manufacturing processes.
She said that the experience in Taiwan is valuable, and
can be applied to other Asian economies.
Oh's next project is in India, starting in January 1999.
Intel seeks to implement its e-commerce infrastructure
in all parts of Asia by the middle of the year, except
for Vietnam and Pakistan where electronic communications
are tightly regulated and not sufficiently advanced.
Dell Computer Corp. recently announced that its sales
over the Internet exceed US$10 million a day, and that
such sales surpassed US$3.7 billion in the initial 11
months of 1998.
(Charlene Huang, Asia BizTech Correspondent)
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