Corio Magnetizes QuadremCorio Magnetizes Quadrem

Corio Inc. continues to find success offering its application-hosting and -management services to online marketplaces, Wednesday signing Quadrem International Ltd., a mining, minerals, and metals E-marketplace.

Quadrem, which launched in November with 12 buyers and 20 suppliers, joins existing Corio E-marketplace clients Elemica, Enporion, and ForestExpress, for the chemicals, energy, and paper-products industries, respectively. Quadrem's suppliers include Alpha Trading & Supply, Canadian Bearings, Corporate Express, Crescent Electric, ME International, Motion Industries, and National Bearing. Buyers within the mining, minerals, and metals industries access Quadrem's E-marketplace to browse product catalogs as well as research product information, pricing, and specific item attributes.

Corio will host and manage the majority of the applications Quadrem uses to run its online marketplace, including MarketSet, Requisite Technology Inc.'s BugsEye and eMerge, and mySAP.com. MarketSet combines Commerce One Inc.'s E-marketplace software with SAP E-business applications, providing an open E-marketplace platform for buying, selling, and collaborative supply-chain and engineering capabilities. Corio will integrate the MarketSet platform with Requisite's content-management applications and mySAP's financials, accounts payable, and sales and distribution apps.

E-marketplaces are likely targets for ASPs looking to expand their customer bases because those exchanges are typically new entities without an infrastructure to support their business model, says Bill Martorelli, Hurwitz Group's VP of E-services and sourcing strategies. E-marketplaces also tend to be more reliable clients than many of the dot-coms that have disappeared in the past year, he adds, because the marketplaces usually have the support of several experienced companies within the industries they serve.