Only few of the 1,500 independent, Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) exchanges (also called B2B-hubs) that existed in 2001 have managed to survive. They consist of either private exchanges or B2B exchanges run by industry alliances.

Neoforma, a B2B-hub that links buyers with sellers of hospital equipment and supplies, is one of the private exchanges. After its stock plummeted, the company sold a 46% stake to a privately held hospital group and agreed to facilitate transactions only for this group's 2,000 hospitals and suppliers. This year, Neoforma will handle $8 billion worth of business.

Industry-run exchanges include Covisint, a B2B hub dedicated to connecting more than 22,000 companies within the automotive industry, ChemConnect, a B2B exchange, whose investors include Abbott Labs, BASF and Dow Chemical and WorldWide Retail Exchange, whose participants include Best Buy, Albertson's, and pharmacy CVS. Large companies like Wal-Mart, Target Lowes and Intel have started to migrate their purchasing to B2B hubs and will start requiring their vendors to use the new technology. Industry standards have been created in the retail, health-care, and financial-services industries.