ABB opens E-business portal on ElectricNet

ABB Utility Automation (Wickliffe, OH) has opened a Storefront for its Electrical Transmission and Distribution customers on www.ElectricNet.com. This storefront enables ABB utility customers to obtain information on a wide range of products and services, as well as to purchase load forecast and power line communication equipment online.

"We found that thousands of our customers are visiting the on line community provided by ElectricNet," said Thomas Berndtsson, T&D Automation eBusiness portal manager for the ABB unit. "So it is natural for us to join them there with a description of our Industrial IT solutions to provide reliable, responsive and cost effective delivery of electricity in today's changing markets."

The goal is to make ABB's Industrial IT offering for customers who deliver power on electrical networks easy to find, and understand. "But, we see the current storefront configuration as just a start," said Mr. Berndtsson. "We are seeking customer feedback to guide its development to serve their needs. The great thing about such store on the World Wide Web, is that we can quickly adapt it to reflect those needs as we learn them. Because our solutions cover substations, network management, utility communication and broad Industrial IT scope, we seek new ways to tell customers what we can do for them."

This is the first of several such storefronts being developed by ABB Utility Automation in co-operation with VerticalNet, which also runs the Poweronline.com, and Wateronline.com communities. In each case, ABB will provide a broad description of its solutions, more detailed descriptions of specific solutions of high interest to customers, and a link back to a "portal" at the ABB group website (http://www.abb.com) that will provide a complete description of ABB's Industrial IT offering for each vertical market. For instance, the storefront on ElectricNet provides a link back to ABB. In addition to descriptions of solutions, customers can actually buy Load Forecasts, and Power Line Communication equipment at sites in this portal. ABB is already responding to inquiries from customers who discovered the storefront online before its official introduction.

As a user of EC Online, visit this storefront of ABB on ElectricNet. If you believe that it is applicable to your needs, please let me know. If appropriate, it should also reside on EC Online.

Edited by Jerry R. Borland, P.E.
Managing Editor, EC Online
jborland@vertical.net