In the past, the Internet strategy of a company was about using a web site for advertising products. Today the concept of product becomes almost indistinguishable from the concept of service, and the Internet becomes a key component of any type of channel. Electronic marketplaces and e-services are two of the main drivers for the change from chapter one to chapter two for the Internet, both from a business and technology perspective. E-services are about assets made available efficiently over the Internet.
Electronic marketplaces are about demand for services being put in contact with the best offer.
The two concepts naturally complement each other. The objective of this paper is to introduce the concepts behind both e-services and electronic marketplaces, and to show an example of the use of Java as enabling technology. The example focuses on a novel approach to mediated service delivery, and the Java- based prototype developed to implement it. Cesare Stefanelli, University of Ferrara, Italy.