IDEA gets it.

Significant milestones in IDEA's history:

Our Beginnings

• March 1998: NEMA and NAED form a joint venture corporation, Industry Data Exchange Association (IDEA), as a not-for-profit company to establish industry standards to facilitate eCommerce and solve problems in the supply chain.
• November 1999: Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) and Industry Data Exchange (IDX) become operational.
• January 2000: IDEA's certification of incorporation in Delaware is amended to reflect its status as a for-profit company. Our official name is changed to Industry Data Exchange Association, Inc. (IDEA). We are dedicated to innovation in eCommerce. ­
• April 2000: IDEA Board of Directors appoints Michael Rioux as first full-time President.
• June 2000: IDEA’s case study is recorded in the 2000 Computerworld Smithsonian Program and Collection as an example of the revolutionary change at the commencement of a new century.
• August 2000: IDEA holds first IDEA E-Biz Forum in St. Louis, MO.

A New Generation of eCommerce

• March 2002: All IDX customers become operational on IDX v2.
• March 2003: IDX v2 completes one year of operation with a 100% reliability and performance record and a record-setting 2,000,000,000 characters of B2B traffic.
• November 2003: IDEA implements the Data Audit and Certification (DAC) program.
• November 2003: IDEA initiates Industry Retail Database (IRD) to meet retail chain and 1SYNC™ (Formerly UCCnet) requirements.
• December 2004: 150 manufacturers provide data to IDW and 100 manufacturers participate in the DAC program.
• May 2005: IDEA launches second-generation data warehouse platform – IDW v2.
• February 2006: IDEA completes asset acquisition of Integrated Software Systems (ISS).
• March 2006: IDX completes US Government evaluation.
• April 2006: IDW earns top security rating by Digital Defense, Inc.
• July 2006: IDEA’s headquarters moves from NEMA’s office in the Rosslyn neighborhood to the Crystal City neighborhood in Arlington, VA.
• August 2006: IDEA teams with Activant to connect Activant’s solutions to the IDX network and enable the full integration of supplier data via IDW.
• August 2006: IDEA welcomes its 700th customer.
• March 2007: IDEA introduces the Richard Buzun Award for Leadership and Innovation in eCommerce to recognize an electrical manufacturer and distributor company for their eCommerce accomplishments.
• August 2007: Michael Rioux, President, announces his departure from IDEA
• September 2007: IDEA announces the completion of its corporate rebranding efforts including a redesign of its flagship website (idea-esolutions.com).

A Vision for the Future

• November 2007: IDEA Board of Directors appoints retired U.S. Army Brigadier General, Robert E. Gaylord, as the President and CEO.
• January 2008: IDEA launches its first customer portal (www.myideaportal.net) - a secure password-protected site created to serve as the main source for support resources and product access.
• March 2008: IDEA launches a micro site for the IDEA E-Biz Forum (www.idea-ebizforum.com).
• July 2008: IDEA and Trade Service Corporation data share agreement comes to term after 10 years.
• September 2008: IDEA Board of Directors approves a new Strategic Plan for 2008-2011.
• September 2008: IDEA celebrates its 10 year anniversary at the 10th IDEA E-Biz Forum in Washington, DC. 
• January 2009: IDEA teams with Sterling Commerce to expand eCommerce solutions.
• April 2009: IDEA teams with Affiliated Distributors (A-D) to offer the IDEA Synchronization Audit as a new professional service. 
• October 2009: IDEA releases the first Electrical Industry Attribute Schema to standardize descriptive product information.
• October 2009: IDEA Portal 2.0 (www.myideaportal.net) is released to customers.
• June 2010: IDEA welcomes its 1000th IRD CERICOMX® customer.
• March 2011: IDEA releases the Electrical Attribute Schema 2.0, an expansion that increases product coverage by 64%.
• July 2011: IDEA launches the Attribute Fulfillment Service (AFS) to provide a new professional outsourcing solution.
• November 2011: IDEA finalizes strategic partnership with ElectricSmarts.