eFiles: December 18, 2001

Retaking Control At Ford

Ford Motor Co. two years ago decided it had better things to do than host Web servers. So, like most major global enterprises, Ford outsourced most server operations to Web hosting service providers. Now the automotive giant is having second thoughts. In fact, Director of IT Services George Surdu said recently, in a presentation to the Center for Information Technology and Marketplace Transformation at the University of California at Berkeley, that Ford is considering bringing some Web hosting in-house.

Why? Surdu said Ford has been dissatisfied with the level of service provided. “Its a lot more than keeping Web servers up all the time,” he said. “Its about change management, version control, documentation. A lot of the Web hosters havent figured that out yet.”

Doing B2B Napster-style

eWeek is not alone in asking if peer-to-peer technology makes sense in the enterprise. At the recent Jupiter Media Metrix Ground Zero 4 conference in Los Angeles, many agreed that the technology could make sense in B2B e-commerce.

A peer-to-peer system of always-connected servers and clients that allowed companies to search globally for products could popularize B2B e-commerce, said Julian Bond, chief technology officer at Netmarkets Europe, a B2B portal in London. It also could make integration into back-office systems easier. Standing in the way: a lack of standards around such aspects as security and control and no proven revenue model.