AlbanygateWAy.com.au is a community portal for the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The brainchild of an Albany focus group, this innovative site was constructed by former portal manager, Gill Sellar. Gill wanted to assist her local community to come on-line and keep pace with global developments on the Internet.

Although there are many examples of good e-business sites and community portals, this is the only regional community portal run by a co-operative that is e-commerce capable.

Albany Gateway Co-operative recently completed a virtual shopping mall and has a secure credit card facility. The group is now planning to introduce the concept of e-commerce to the local business community. They are also partnering with the Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the University of Western Australia to develop business-to-business capability. This ambitious project will take many years to be fully integrated into the e-community.

The new keeper of the portal and co-ordinator of the co-op, Julie Bucknell, is optimistic about their future and being at the forefront of research and development for e-business. "It may sound a bit like singing our own praises," says Julie, " but given it's special features, we believe AlbanygateWAy.com.au can be held up as world best practice. The nature of enquiries we receive from around the world about our portal development confirms this". Why not visit the site and see for yourself. http://www.albanygateway.com.au