Software development in the UK has certain centers of concentration.  These main areas are in or  near London, Edinburgh, and Cambridge.  The software developed in these areas is advanced and cutting edge.  When Time Europe recently announced Europe’s Fifty Hottest Tech Firms, UK based firms represented 27% of the non-hardware firms in all of Europe.  These firms included Business-to-Business providers Band-X, BuildOnline, and Eceurope.com.  Firms that are portals and content providers on the list include Boxman [which has just filed for liquidation], LetsBuyIt.com, and Easynet.  Wireless pioneers on the list are CellPoint and Magex, while other software developers include Autonomy and Symbian.

 All of the leading B2B firms in the list of Europe’s hottest tech firms are based in London.  The first, Band-X provides bandwidth capacity exchange for phone operators. It targets the $20-billion market for spot telecom capacity, and already most telecom companies as customers.  In July 1997 Band-X launched the world's first independent exchange for international wholesale telecom capacity and changed the way the industry thought about buying and selling telecommunications capacity.
Since then it has maintained an unparalleled record of innovation. In 1998 it opened the world's first spot market for switched voice minutes and the first independent market for co-location space. In 1999 it was first to offer reverse auctions of bandwidth. In 2000 Band-X launched the world's first trading floor for Internet transit capacity, revolutionizing the way that Internet connectivity is bought and sold.

It is this responsiveness to its customers' needs which has driven the business' growth. Today Band-X has 11,000 members, and estimates it transacts over 80% of all trades that are executed within the telecom B2B exchange industry. Over $40 million worth of bandwidth has changed hands via the reverse auction process and in May 2000 alone Band-X Switched handled 6.5 million minutes of international voice traffic. The co-location market hosts over 70 suppliers offering space in more than 200 locations. Band-X is without doubt, the busiest telecoms trading community on the Web.
Moreover, membership to Band-X is free and any member can post a bid or offer at no cost. Fees are paid only if a transaction is completed through a Band-X facilitated introduction. At the heart of Band-X's success stands its core values - it is independent, it never trades its own capacity or facilities, it treats buyers and sellers equally. It also has the financial backing to ensure its long-term success.

In April 2000, Band-X received $40 million joint investment from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity and Madison Dearborn Partners. This followed an initial $11 million funding from Madison Dearborn Partners. Today, Band-X provides trading services worldwide with local offices and/or personnel in The United Kingdom, United States, France, India, Ireland, South Africa and The Netherlands with new markets and trading floors opening regularly.
The trading floors for International Communication services are:

-- Networks
-- Co-location
 -- Switched Minutes
 -- Routed IP
-- Telecom Recruitment[1]

The second company is BuildOnline.  This company provides online trading for the $65-billion European construction industry.  Their services address a large, inefficient, fragmented market with a variety of offerings aimed at simplifying construction industry collaboration and transactions. BuildOnline is the first business-to-business e-commerce site for Europe's £520 billion construction industry, with over £11.6 million in venture capital funding.
BuildOnline is pioneering 'e-construction' - where building materials and services, which account for 65% of total construction costs, will be bought on its internet marketplace of suppliers and buyers. In addition, the site's project collaboration tool links together all the parties involved in a construction project, enabling them to manage seamlessly every stage of the construction process from design and tender, to building and maintenance online.
BuildOnline estimates that e-construction can deliver 23 per cent savings in European construction and reduce construction project completion times by 15%, amounting to annual industry savings of over £119 billion.
BuildOnline invests in centralised Internet platforms that allow industry participants to gain the benefits of information technology without the need for large capital investments. All that is required is a PC and a browser to access our services.
Founded in Ireland in 1998, leading buyers, specifiers and suppliers have been quick to adopt BuildOnline. In its first six months, over 50 per cent of Irish buyers have signed up to the service. BuildOnline is managing projects worth over £125 million online including, at present, the major redevelopment of Farmleigh House in Dublin on behalf of the Irish Government.
BuildOnline benefits from an exceptional management team combining deep construction industry knowledge, significant Internet strategy experience and global market exposure. Mark Suster, CEO, was one of Andersen Consulting's leading e-commerce strategists in Europe and has worked in seven European countries, Japan and the US. Brian Moran, Founder and President, has 13 years experience in architecture, design-build contracting, project management and development throughout Europe.[2]

Finally, ECeurope.com is a bulletin board that helps small- and medium-sized businesses access a broader trading base.  It is unique in what it does, and in terms of trading leads posted is ahead of the rest. ECeurope.com(tm) (Electronic Commerce Europe) was launched on 20th October 1999 as a global business-to-business (B2B) eMarketplace. It operates a "Trade Bulletin Board System" - a virtual business dating agency. ECeurope is currently one of the top 50 Trade BBS systems around the world and has a leading position within the European marketplace.
Rather than holding or selling physical stock, the "Trade BBS" acts as a matchmaker between international buyers and sellers and targets primarily small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide that wish to locate new business partners and generate new business via the Net.

It allows SMEs to 'post', 'search', 'view' and 'respond' to B2B trade lead messages (digital business ads) for any type of products or services categorised under 23 "Vertical" industry categories and 166 sub-categories quickly, easily and cost-effectively. All transactions between companies are conducted off-line.

ECeurope.com's platform allows companies to overcome 2 barriers for conducting trade internationally, Geography and Time.
The fundamental principles of B2B eMarketplaces have evolved from the original 'Bulletin Board System' (BBS) of the 1980s and have contributed heavily towards the development of the ECeurope.com B2B eMarketplace.

The current trading platform was developed by three of the four founders who have worked on the Internet in e-business since 1996 as 'B2B Infomediaries', and have a combined total of over 24,000 hours practical Internet research experience. [3]

 Time categorizes those companies that are portals and content providers aimed at consumers as “dotcoms.”  Two of the top three European dotcoms listed are located in London.  LetsBuyIt.com pushes down prices through group buying power.  With fourteen national sites running, LetsBuyIt is now planning to expand outside Europe. LetsBuyIt.com is developing a leading pan-European e-commerce business based on an innovative, member-driven business model called co-buying, which gives members with an interest in a common product or service the chance to join together and drive down prices.

Member-Driven: LetsBuyIt.com's members request products and services on the company's site, and LetsBuyIt.com then works in the members' favour to source these products and services at the lowest price. Our dynamic pricing model enables members who have joined a product "co-buy" to see graphically how the price drops as more and more people join over time. LetsBuyIt.com believes that by offering an entertaining, member-focused service, it will become an obvious Internet-shopping alternative for people looking for a broad selection of products and services. The site uses encryption certification from VeriSign, one of the world's safest encryption systems, to assure privacy and data security between members and LetsBuyIt.com.

Origins and What's Next: The company's first country site and the first co-buying site in Europe, in Sweden, was launched on 13 April 1999. Since then, LetsBuyIt.com has expanded its geographical range to include 14 European countries and currencies: Germany, UK, Ireland, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. This pan-European coverage will give our members the unparalleled opportunity of co-buying on an international basis, bypassing Europe's traditionally inefficient and localised consumer markets, which help keep prices high. LetsBuyIt.com's country-specific web sites are customised for the local members, with content in the local language and prices in local currency.[4]

 Europe is leading the world in the adoption of wireless technology, and the London based CellPoint is one of the top performers.  They develop internet applications using GSM cellular networks to locate cell phones.  Although it is incorporated in the US, its headquarters is in London and its focus is on Europe.  They have recently partnered with Yahoo! Europe on mobile locator services.

 The “Silicon Fens,” an area just outside Cambridge is a hot bed of software development, and the Cambridge based Autonomy is a leading performer in knowledge management software.  This firm’s technology helps companies find information on the web more efficiently. The language independence of Autonomy's proprietary technology has provided a springboard for international expansion and enabled access to an ever-growing market and customer base. Autonomy now has full-service offices located throughout North America and Western Europe, and in Sydney, Australia, which forms the foundation of our Asia-Pacific operations. With key relationships in Japan, Korea and Eastern Europe, we expect to expand operations into the Middle East and Latin American markets such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina in 2000 and 2001. All of these offices foster and manage key partnership networks, bringing together leading local integrators and global consultancy services providers. [5]

 Used by one of the world’s leading handheld devices, Psion; Symbian develops technology for mobile computing devices.  This London based company’s EPOC technology has a shot at becoming the mobile operating system of the future.

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