ISN'T it amazing how time flies. It was one year ago today that the Government outlined its sweeping support for Hongkong's electronic data interchange (EDI) consortium, Tradelink.
And while a year might be a long time in politics, it barely leaves a mark on a company like Tradelink in its pursuit of such a nefarious mode of business as EDI.
As hard as it might be to discern, Hongkong's snail-like charge toward the adoption of fully electronic trade practices is proceeding full-speed ahead (although this news probably does not inspire hardened EDI-watchers, who have been watching the paint dry since 1985).
Tradelink has been quietly beavering away since December last year, narrowing down the more than 20 potential EDI service suppliers who responded to the company's request for proposals.
One thing Tradelink has not been doing is talking about progress made in that selection process.
Thankfully, the rest of the industry is still able to churn out enough rumour, gossip and innuendo to such an extent we are able to report Tradelink has apparently narrowed the field of contenders to two bids: IBM and Unisys.
Both companies emerged as front-runners early on. IBM teamed up with the Hongkong-based courier giant DHL, while Unisys' partners included INS, the largest EDI supplier in Britain. The Unisys/INS partnership was recently successful in Malaysia, having won with domestic partners the right to set up a nationwide EDI network there.