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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rupert1 who wrote (52627)	3/10/1999 6:21:00 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

Microsoft, Cisco, Compaq In Brazil E-Commerce Pact By J.P. Vicente SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Three U.S. computer industry heavyweights have joined two Brazilian companies to offer products aimed at grabbing a big chunk of the burgeoning business e-commerce market in Brazil. The alliance, which groups software behemoth Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news), PC maker Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news), networking company Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) with Brazilian data exchange company Interchange and network security concern Modulo -- would help clients cut production costs by taking their business online. ''The idea behind this strategic alliance is to provide solutions for firms to integrate their productive chain through the usage of web technologies,'' Alexandre Pombo, commerce automation manager at Microsoft's unit in Brazil, said Wednesday. The partnership -- baptized Value Chain Alliance -- will operate mainly in the so-called business-to-business market, a segment of electronic commerce aimed at optimizing business relations between companies and their suppliers. Analysts said the alliance will pose stiff competition to other providers of e-commerce solutions in Brazil, such as International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news)'s e-business program and enterprise server company Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW - news) . Recent forecasts show that worldwide business-to-business e-commerce is expected to generate some $68 billion -- the equivalent of Poland's gross domestic product -- in 1999. Four years ago, that figure was only $30 million, officials said. In Brazil, the volume of business-to-business e-commerce is expected to hit $100 million by late 1999. ''The numbers show the potential of this market,'' said Luiz Pimentel, direct sales director at Compaq in Brazil. The companies said Value Chain Alliance will first focus on specific sectors of the Brazilian economy, such as automobiles, food, insurance and retail. Company officials said they were already working with 12 companies in those sectors. They refused to name them, but said the first deal was expected in April. Value Chain Alliance's product is expected to cost companies some $60,000 to set up, the companies said. That price includes servers from Compaq, routers from Cisco based on a Microsoft's Windows NT platform, as well as a security code from Modulo and electronic data interchange (EDI) software from Interchange. Services and maintenance will be charged separately. ''That's the price expected for the product as a whole. It could drop if the client already has a network installed, for example,'' said Microsoft's Pombo. The companies will invest $300,000 in promoting the product in the first half of 1999. ''This money will go mostly to increasing the exposure of the Alliance and promote seminars about the subject,'' said Jaime Araujo, director of strategic alliances at Modulo.