Construction Forecast Issue Home

March 30, 2000

Internet changing the way the world is built

The hands-on construction industry is entering cyberspace to build projects more efficiently.

By ROBIN CHRISTIE
Cephren

The name Cephren harkens back to the Egyptian master builder who helped change the way the world was built by construction of the pyramids. Cephren seeks to do the same through online project collaboration tools and e-commerce services for the construction industry.

Cephren was formed after merging the Internet firm Blueline Online with the e-commerce services of eBricks.com in January. The result offers a range of services integrated into one company.

Why does an age-old, hands-on industry need the Internet?

At approximately $3.2 trillion globally, construction is the largest industry in the world. Commercial construction is unique in that each commercial construction project unites multiple, geographically dispersed and diverse firms as partners for a temporary period.

Over the life of the project (often measured in years), direct costs such as phone, fax and courier bills, and indirect costs including project delays and legal costs from disputes arising from poor communication or work-flow coordination, can be enormous.

By combining the World Wide Web’s unique ability to link multiple firms and project teams all working toward a single project goal (on-time, on-budget delivery of the project), industry participants can deliver projects better, faster, smarter and cheaper.

Cephren enables the owner, architects, engineers, general contractors and specialty contractors to share documents; view and modify plans; generate, manage, track and report on requests for information; and establish accountability for change request management. Also, Cephren’s online services ProjectNet and MarketNet streamline the design, engineering, bidding, procurement and construction processes of typical construction projects.

Providing online services that actually help the construction industry requires more than simply transferring the traditional, sometimes chaotic project-management process online. Cephren combined its staff’s industry experience with customers' domain expertise to build an Internet service that directly addresses the needs of the industry.

Cephren is being used in construction of the Courtyard by Marriott in Emeryville, Calif. Cephren’s online services ProjectNet and MarketNet aim to streamline the design, engineering, bidding, procurement and construction processes of typical construction projects.

Today, Cephren is a privately held company with investors including Goldman Sachs, Warburg Pincus Ventures, Bechtel Enterprise Holdings, and GE Power Systems.

Cephren has partnerships with CommerceOne, DataCAD and Infosys that continue to leverage Cephren’s presence in the marketplace and increase features and functionality of ProjectNet.

Cephren’s project collaboration tool, ProjectNet, enables architects, engineers, contractors and suppliers to coordinate communication, send design updates and conduct project meetings through a secure, Web-based extranet. All services work with standard PCs and Web browsers, and it's easy to use because it integrates with other software tools and can be used on any PC without additional software.

Currently, 800 firms use the network in 51 countries on five continents; ProjectNet is being used on construction projects valued at $40 billion.

Cephren also has another e-service on the way. MarketNet is currently in beta testing with a group of charter e-commerce customers representing a trading cluster that does $1.5 billion in annual procurement in the northeastern United States. Over the next six months, Cephren plans to formally launch into production its MarketNet services that include bidding for products, bidding for services, catalog purchasing of materials and auctions.