Cost effective, efficient transaction/message-switching is crucial to the success of any e-commerce enabled business. Briefly, transaction/message-switching is an electronic conversation between two or more information technology systems connected by means of a communications medium.

The challenge to effective communication is to enable systems, using different programming languages, to understand each other's terminology.

There are existing providers of software solutions, including hosted services and infrastructure. These solutions have traditionally been provided through a centralized infrastructure requiring significant investment in equipment, networks and facilities, and off-site backup and/or disaster recovery facilities.

The quantum of the investment and required return on such investment, have provided an effective barrier to entry to the transaction/message-switching environment.

To provide constructive solutions to current difficulties facing the e-commerce industry, transaction/message-switching needs to become a commodity, with more focus and emphasis placed on value-added transaction/message-switching. At the forefront of this initiative is e-Gateway.

e-Gateway is a thin transaction/message-switching software system, utilising powerful, freely available software to deliver a cost-effective solution for all transaction/message-switching nuisances.

e-Gateway is developed to operate using the Linux operating system, however can be compiled and supported on a multitude of Operating Systems and Server Platforms. The e-gateway applications are developed in C. The front-ends to administer eGateway are developed in PHP and interface via a standard web browser interface. A secure login protects the eGateway configuration from both external and internal tampering.