AAPT partners with Ariba, but more to come

AAPT's announcement on Sunday that it has entered into an initial agreement with Ariba to host e-commerce business to business solutions will not be the telco's only e-commerce partnership.

David Glavonjic, CEO of AAPT@commerce, the recently acquired and renamed, former AT&T e-commerce service provider EasyLink, AAPT plans to become a "leading" e-commerce player in the market.

Under the arrangement with Ariba, which is expected to be finalised over the next couple of months, AAPT@commerce will localise and host the Ariba business to business e-commerce solution and offer services to large and medium businesses.

Glavonjic said AAPT will offer Ariba's solutions as packaged e-commerce solutions to Australian customers predominantly, and to a lesser degree New Zealand customers. Customers will also have the opportunity to trial solutions before purchasing.

According to Glavonjic, AAPT will be making more deals in the e-commerce space in the coming months.

"We will be taking quite an aggressive position . . . we will acquire more technology," he said.

AAPT is hoping to attract customers by the reduction in costs and improved acquisition and operating cycles brought about through e-commerce, Glavonjic said.