The high cost of wide area telecommunications and the lack of standard interfaces between business systems were the key obstacles for businesses to overcome. For smaller businesses, the complexity of these problems left them almost completely off the radar.

Now, the Internet and a myriad of associated technologies are poised to take away the barriers of using information technology to conduct commerce.

The Internet is fundamentally a communications medium. The great advantage of the Internet is that it standardises the connectivity process. Consequently as a business person, I know that I am connected to the Internet just as my partners are. That connection can then be used to integrate our work.

Of course, the underlying communications mechanism is just the start. Technologies are being developed to ensure systems are interoperable and trading groups are being formed to bring together interested parties.

This month's edition of eComWorld looks at business to business (B2B) and business to government (B2G) e-commerce. The basics are explained and we provide report cards on individual industries.

Over the coming months, eComWorld will delve further into the B2B space by examining services available for business across the Internet, B2B software and technologies and explaining how to join and implement supply chains.

And to ensure we can measure the progression towards our goal of 2001 web sites online by 2001, we invite you to register your business's Web site with us. We'll be providing an online directory - categorised by industry, business and site type - for our readers, consumers and other businesses alike.

To register your site, follow the links at http://ecomworld.com.au.

We hope you enjoy the September edition of eComWorld, out now. If you have any suggestions, comments, or ideas for case studies, please don't hesitate to e-mail me at ben_gerholt@idg.com.au.