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A start-up company named NxLight Inc. this week launched a transaction network that uses XML to simplify the management of complex inter-company transactions, such as the execution of contracts. The NxLight Transaction Network provides a platform through which companies can easily exchange documents in a secure fashion using a number of security technologies include digital certificates. The company positions digital signing of documents, as well as the audit trail it maintains on transactions, as letting companies complete "enforceable" transactions, which will hold up in a court of law in the event of a dispute. "There's lot of money changing hands over the Internet across low-risk items, CDs, and books," said Jeff Jones, NxLight executive vice president. "The next level is to take any business area or arena where you have enforceable agreements and contracts and be able to create that in a real-time electronic format." A company can use the network with little to no infrastructure investment, simply accessing it through a browser. NxLight builds and transmits what it calls "smart packages," which are transactions in XML containing workflow rules and business logic. A company can choose to use the network without any integration into its back-end systems, or the use of XML can allow tight integration, so that documents generated by NxLight could be imported into internal systems as needed. NxLight also provides templates for common business processes that can be customized for use in a given company or industry. Typical applications of the system, according to NxLight, include management and execution of contracts, insurance policy issuance, and health-care patient consent forms. NxLight will either host a company's implementation or license software that lets a customer do so internally. Enterprise licenses start as low as $20,000 while per-transaction costs for hosted systems are in the range of $1 to $2 per transaction, the company said.