E-BUSINESS NEWS.

Data Transmission Network Corp., Omaha, Neb., introduces DTN Speed. Net to bring high-speed Internet access to rural and under-served markets. DTN and DTN Speed. Net have partnered with Roger Brodersen, the company's founder. DTN Speed.Net high-speed wireless is an always-on connection not requiring phone lines. The service offers residential, business and business network access and Web hosting. Deployment is already under way across the central United States.

The Minneapolis Grain Exchange has an agreement with DTN to develop cash-settled futures contracts using DTN data. Kent Horsager, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange says, "MGEX will focus initially on agricultural contracts. Corn and soybean futures and options will be our first focus and we will launch them on our electronic trading platform, scheduled to be released during the third quarter of this year."

DirectAg, St. Paul, Minn., has announced new partnerships with FirstGroup and Pfizer. FirstGroup aligned with DirectAg as part of its efforts to link partners that will innovatively move identity-preserved, quality grains from farm to end use. Consisting of more than 30 leading farmer cooperatives, FirstGroup has more than 400 retail locations across the U.S. Corn Belt and markets nearly 1 billion bushels of grain annually.

The new partnership with animal health firm Pfizer covers access to leading products and exclusive information. DirectAg customers can now purchase Pfizer livestock products, including Dectomax parasite control products and CattleMaster and RespiSure vaccines. In addition, Pfizer will contribute an animal health "Tip of the Week" to the DirectAg Web site.

IRON Solutions, LLC, Fenton, Mo., has formed alliances with Fbadvantage.com and DirectAg.com. IRON Solutions is the technology and services company created as a partnership with the North American Equipment Dealers Association, the Affiliate Associations and Central Communications. It provides used equipment information -- published as the Official Guide -- as well as Internet resources and other new technologies.

Equipment appraisals, based on the Official Guide values, will now be available to farmers via the Farm Bureau Fbadvantage Web site and to DirectAg.com members. The Specification and Value Guide book can also be purchased via these channels to provide information on all major farm equipment produced over the past 50 years.

John Deere, Moline, Ill., has joined forces with VantagePoint Network, Fort Collins, Colo., and CropVerifeye, LLC, Wichita, Kan., to develop and introduce an innovative crop identity-tracing system called Crop-Tracer. This new service combines John Deere's field data collection technology with VantagePoint's data warehousing capabilities and CropVerifeye's third-party certification and field auditing services to build an advanced crop-tracking system.

i-cubed, Fort Collins, Colo., a geographic data provider, has introduced the Instant Imagery USA Millennium Mosaic, the first seamless color satellite image mosaic of the continental United States produced at 15-meter spatial resolution, i-cubed is making this digital image map available to the precision agriculture market for use as an accurate and inexpensive basemap for its GIS and automated mapping applications.

The Instant Imagery Series differs from other satellite image products because it gives the client freedom to choose an area of interest in any size or shape without worrying about satellite scene boundaries or having to order more data than needed. Development of the USA Millennium Mosaic was completed as a cooperative effort of i-cubed (information integration & imaging) and EarthWatch Inc., a high-resolution satellite image and spatial information provider in Longmont, Colo.

WeatherMarkets.com, Wayne, Pa., announces the commercial release of CountryCast, a detailed global weather forecasting service for the energy and agricultural industries. CountryCast enables participants in these industries to make trading and planning decisions up to 10 days forward because it goes beyond basic temperature and precipitation forecasts to provide insight into heating, cooling and growing degree days, wind chills, heat indexes, solar radiation, evapotransportation and more.

CountryCast is available as a data feed for use by individual companies and Web sites. Clients can select only those locations they need and can choose between CountryCast for Energy and CountryCast for Agriculture, each of which provides more than 20 pertinent forecast parameters.