Shortly after the collapse of online food and drink trading exchange efdex, a leading business to business e-commerce expert has warned the current growth in b2b exchanges is unsustainable. Global Exchange Services marketing director Colin Bilinge warned: "Board level executives who rushed to sign their companies up to exchanges need to wake up to reality. "As the market settles, many will fail. This may be because they haven't thought through their business model thoroughly or that they have failed to obtain critical mass." While online exchanges can tackle supply chain inefficiencies by providing fast accurate and transparent price and market data, they have to process huge volumes of transactions to make any money, said Bilinge. "Some have sprung into being with ambitious aspirations but no capability in place to handle not just the information layer but the critical transaction layer. Without transactions there will be no revenue, and without revenue there will be no liquidity. Without liquidity, an exchange will not deliver on its promises." {{NEWS }}