Europe leapfrogs US in Net markets

NEWS European Internet traders are storming ahead of their US counterparts, according to global outsourcing company CSC. CSC currently provides the technology behind 15 European Internet business-to-business (B2B) procurement sites, and over 40 in the US. From analysing the two markets, CSC claims after years of lagging behind, Europe has finally overtaken the US when it comes to the use of cutting-edge Internet technologies. Tony de Luca, CSC's director of Net markets, said: "If you start later, you can do things better - and that's what has happened here. Net markets have been able to develop a lot more features and services that were impossible a year or two ago. So many of the US Net markets are limited now in terms of being able to offer a combination of spot trading, aggregation or negotiation services - whereas the European sites aren't." De Luca predicted that Europe's use of WAP technologies for B2B transactions puts it at least two years ahead of the US. However, other industry experts are less convinced of Europe's leading edge. Jonathan Steel, chairman of Bathwick Group, said that Europe is a far more complex market than the US, and therefore developing more slowly. "I don't believe Europe is ahead in anyway," he said. "The opportunities for setting up business-to-business marketplaces are very different to the US because of the different dynamics. In Europe there are complex cultural and economic differences, whereas in the US there is a single currency and single country dynamic which makes it a lot easier to get off the ground." Dale Vile, senior analyst at Bloor Research, said: "Technology is moving so rapidly that to some extent those that lag behind could end up with a more robust technology and have the potential to leapfrog a little. But generally I haven't seen any evidence of Europe actually being ahead of the US."