As Dot-coms Reel, Broadlane Steps Forward

The announcement last month that once high-flying Ventro Corp. , a leader in B2B e-commerce solutions in healthcare, is shutting down its Chemdex and Promedix businesses had to come as something of a surprise, notwithstanding the rumors that had flown for weeks and the general carnage that has taken place in the B2B space over the past several months. There are reports daily of what some in the Internet industry now call "e-bituaries"—companies that go out of business, having used the last of huge amounts of venture capital raised just a year ago—while those that survive are quickly trying to refashion themselves to remove any hint of B2B e-commerce in their business models. Ventro is no exception: the shedding of Chemdex and Promedix are part of the company's effort to reposition itself as, more narrowly, a provider of software procurement solutions.

Still, the announcement from a company widely viewed as a B2B pioneer just months earlier had the bracing feel of...