Fortunately for them, assembling all that data back in Mountain View was a far less rigorous task: Google engineers use their mapping software to link the photos to their shooting locations and string them together to create the panoramic paths users walk through.
"There are so many small businesses in Asia that are professional in dealing with buyers but can't afford the software necessary to link up with the networks of large buyers overseas, " says Douwe Cramer, president of Global Sources' e-commerce division.
In October the software giant agreed to link the 2.8 million small-business users of its QuickBooks management and accounting software to Intelisys' network of 600 suppliers.