01markets.com

This B2B (Business-to-Business) Website by Wipro provides a neutral

marketplace for IT deals, bargains, and information for buyers and sellers. It

offers a range of IT ‘eMarketplace’ services, like procurement,

market-making, content, and support.

The procurement service has products and services from most major brands like

Acer, Compaq, HP, IBM, Epson, 3Com, Intel, Nortel, Cisco, and Sun for hardware;

and Microsoft, Lotus, and Adobe among others for software. You can choose and

compare products and buy them online. The site also gives you buying advice on

different configurations.

The market-making services enable organizations to buy large volumes at

competitive prices through reverse auctions. Here, you have to define your

requirements, which are then translated into an RFP (Request for Proposal) by

the site and offered to vendors that you identify. You can also define your own

auction rules and watch vendors place bids for your requirement. You can put up

IT equipment you want to dispose of at the site’s forward auctions section.

The cost for doing this depends on the volume of equipment and regional tax

rules as applicable.

The content service has news, articles, case studies, and technical

information. Other services include information on order, installation status,

account history, warranty, and asset tracking. This section also has a

networking center and a tech center that provide information on the latest

technology and latest products respectively.

Support services include the 01configurator, which helps you decide on a

configuration; logistics, to keep you updated on the delivery status through

your 01 account; and installation and warranty services to install the systems

for you under the warranty services of 01markets.

The site gives four payments options: cheque before delivery, electronic

funds transfer through payment gateways of banks like ICICI and HDFC, Bills of

Exchange and credit card transactions. 01markets promises to maintain the

confidentiality and security of transactions.

Vini Goel in Bangalore