Quickly, Costello went about piecing together what he refers to as a "building-block" integration strategy. First, he built up an internal IT organization so that e-Steel could work on some of its own integration technology, along with CSC. He also determined that the BroadVision e-commerce platform was not scalable enough to support a dynamic trading exchange with hooks into back-end systems. As a result, e-Steel redesigned its architecture and chose BEA Systems’ WebLogic transaction framework to replace the BroadVision software. It also sought a partnership with webMethods of Fairfax, Va., which makes hub and spoke software that delivers a secure, dynamic link between the e-Steel exchange and a company’s back-end systems—using a wide variety of standards, such as extensible markup language (XML), common delineated files and electronic data interchange (EDI). In addition to the relationship with webMethods, Costello helped ink a partnership with USX Engineers and Consultants (UEC), the Pittsburgh-based systems integration arm of the U.S. Steel Group (part of USX Corp.), to provide integration services to steel companies looking to participate in e-Steel. Through its ValueTrack service offering, e-Steel also works with companies to assess their e-business goals, and it develops and deploys an integration plan.

There are two other pieces to Costello’s building-block integration architecture. To help automate the process of loading inventory information into the marketplace, e-Steel built DataJet—a free data mapping and uploading tool. DataJet helps customers upload made-to-order, current inventory and product catalog information to the site without data format conversions. E-Steel is also developing and rallying industry support for the Steel Markup Language, a set of extensions to XML that would provide a common format for sharing information among players in the steel industry.

MetalSite, e-Steel’s big rival, has also recognized the need to address integration, of course. In December 1999, MetalSite completed a first-phase test of its integration capabilities with Bethlehem Steel Corp.; this allowed EDI data on the steel maker’s products to be automatically transferred to MetalSite’s Web catalog without rekeying the information. While this capability is similar to e-Steel’s DataJet tool, e-Steel’s adding the webMethods technology takes its integration capabilities to the next level, experts say. DataJet automates the transfer of product data from a seller’s system to e-Steel’s catalog, while the webMethods middleware, once installed, maps both data and business processes so that information gets passed among the disparate systems of parties involved in the exchange, automatically, in real-time.

Together, these pieces give e-Steel a solid foundation for integration. "Since day one, e-Steel has had a more robust concept of what’s required," notes Thomas Abrams, an equity analyst who covers the steel industry with Credit Suisse First Boston in New York City. "But to some degree, the battle has just begun." Integration with everything that’s required for a transaction—from sharing inventory data among suppliers to work-in-progress reports and production data—won’t happen at e-Steel or any other e-marketplace for another 12 to 18 months, Abrams says.