Earlier this year, GXS embarked on several fronts to dramatically improve end user performance for global supply chains, especially in emerging geographies, such as BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). We did this not to address any particular shortcomings, but to address the opportunity to ensure a high-performance supply chain end-to-end. The key to adoption across global supply chain participants - small and large - is (surprise, surprise) a great end user experience. As easy as Google. As useful as Excel. As enjoyable as the iPhone. And so on.

A little over a month ago we announced our global alliance with Verizon Business, which gave us a powerful underlying network between our data centers and beyond. And today, we unveiled the results from recent efforts to Akamaize various Web-based applications and tools on GXS Trading Grid. The result has been nothing short of tremendous. In less than six months, we have seen performance improvements in excess of 40% for global supply chain users. In fact, for GXS Trading Grid customers in Guangdong, China , we doubled the performance and responsiveness of the applications they depend on to collaborate with their U.S. retailers. And, their U.S. retailers depend on this automation for their competitive advantage.

This performance boost for GXS Trading Grid applications, such as GXS Order Lifecycle Visibility and GXS Logistics Visibility, is nothing short of a religious experience for end users. Speed matters. The success of their business and their customers business depends on it. And, I have the customer emails to prove it!