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Last December the express and package delivery giant announce that it had taken an equityposition in NetCel360, a provider of business-to -business e-commerce solutions forcompanies operating in the Asia Pacific region. The investment was made through UPSsStrategic Enterprise Fund, accomplished in 1997 to invest in new markets and emergingtechnologies.The alliance hopes to provide the sort of supply-chain transparency in Asia that is available inother parts of the world. " peerless of the reasons for NetCel and UPS getting together is toprovide full supply-chain integration," said Peter Winslow, managing removeor of UPSWorldwide Logistics for Asia Pacific. "People expect to have information available at all(prenominal)point along the chain. Today that is not available in the region."NetCel360 was founded in 1998 by Phillip E. Kelly, who previously had put in 14 years atMotorola followed by a move to Dell Computer in 1994. At Dell, Kelly was in charge of theAsia P acific region where he built up a made-to-order, admit sales operation similar to theDell infrastructure in the United States. In the process, he became aware of the uniquechallenges faced by companies seeking to blow ones stack their Internet-based operations in thediverse and complex region."The Internet market in the U.S. is built upon a significant infrastructure that was built up bydirect sales and catalog guys," said Kelly. "Asia Pacific does not have the same infrastructureto enable e-commerce."Its going to need one, though. Kelly said e-commerce in the region is pass judgment to grow from$3.3 billion in 1998 to oer $100 billion by 2003, while the number of Internet users isexpected to increase from 30 million to over 100 million. To capitalize on that growth rate,Kelly founded NetCel360 in 1998 to provide one-stop outsourcing services and helpcompanies establish pan-Asian relationships along their supply chains. Services include webconsulting and design, scene of action repair capabilities, call centers, customer interface and a full rangeof financial and translation services.Kelly is bullish on Asia. The economic crisis has largely abated, he said, and specie andoptimism are returning to the region. Partnering with UPS Logistics Group, one of the leadersin global logistics and supply-chain management solutions, is also cause for joy. "Asia Pacificis so diverse and government regulations are so vast said Kelly. "There are different currencylanguages for each of 50 countries. Its not like moving product from Arizona to Tennessee.UPS provides full logistics crosswise the region. Thats the critical component of our alliance."Kelly cited credit card payments as an example of the difficulties of doing e-commerce in