Gateways

Abstract

Gateways have come to stand for many different things – interconnectivity, reseller, marketing, administrative – functions that are performed on the behalf of another vendor. Many discussions suggest that a gateway is, in fact, a surrogate information service. In fact, the concept of a gateway embodies many combinations of relationships between database producers, service providers and vendors. These are business relationships that arise from technological development and are similar to the relationships that have been created for over twenty years through licensing. The structural economics that exist between producers and vendors including gateways will determine the future evolution of gateway services. The greatest opportunity for traditional information services is to develop inter-host connectivity with the developing corporate-wide systems, and to use gateway technology to create new products and services through integration and alliance with complimentary products and services.