Overview of a trading community

A trading community typically revolves around a hub--an enterprise that acts as the Community Manager. Businesses of various sizes, known as community participants, connect to the hub through the Internet. In addition, participants themselves can act as a hub. Figure 1 illustrates a trading community consisting of a Community Manager and a set of participants.

Figure 1. A trading community consisting of a Community Manager and community participants.

Partner Gateway provides a solution for each type of participant in the trading community.

The remainder of this document focuses on Partner Gateway Enterprise and Advanced Editions. For information on Partner Gateway - Express, refer to the InfoCenter for WebSphere Partner Gateway - Express.

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