US-based computer vendor Unisys and UK electronic data interchange specialists INS (International Network Services) yesterday announced an agreement to market commercial electronic trading hardware and software in Asia.
The move comes just two days before the Tradelink consortium is due to award the lucrative supply contract for its long-delayed electronic data interchange (EDI) gateway service.
Unisys Hong Kong sales director Steve Kucia said the award of the Tradelink contract - which could be worth as much as $700 million - should act as an impetus to the move towards ''paperless'' electronic trading in Hong Kong.
But he criticised the Tradelink organisation - set up by private-sector interests in 1988 to promote EDI practices - saying it had been a major impediment to EDI development.
Mr Kucia said although Tradelink had been a useful conduit for disseminating information about EDI concepts, delays in proceeding with its plans for a ''community-wide'' EDI service had led commercial organisations to put their own EDI plans on hold and wait for an indication of the direction Tradelink would take.
''We have talked for too long. The time is for action, and I think that Tradelink has slowed the whole process down,'' Mr Kucia said.
''For too long, EDI providers and potential users in Hong Kong have sat on the fence, waiting for Tradelink to either start operation or at least guide the user base in such a way that electronic trading could begin in the territory,'' he said.