(FORTUNE Magazine) – Two years ago Perot Systems, which cobbles together computer systems for large companies, recruited a team from bankrupt e-commerce forerunner Nets Inc. Now Perot Systems (which just went public) is helping companies such as W.W. Grainger, a distributor of industrial supplies, build business-to-business exchanges on the Net. FORTUNE writer Erick Schonfeld recently caught up with Ross Perot. Here are some excerpts.

Why did you feel it was important to enter the e-commerce area?

I guess for the same reason you would feel it was important to start thinking about electric light bulbs after Edison had invented one. When I was a boy in the Depression, we had something like this. It was the Sears Roebuck catalog. That was the state-of-the-art way to get to everybody, right? Now this is the state of the art. Our technology can communicate with multiple companies, each one with different information systems, accounting systems, tax problems, and languages their employees speak. That is a powerful system.

What are the system's benefits?

People get what they want. For example, if I go into a hardware store and they don't have exactly what I want, I've just got to keep driving, right? But when I look at the range of products, like, say, wire cutters, among all six vendors on the Grainger system, I don't think there is a wire cutter anywhere in the world you can't buy sitting there at your terminal.

Why do you think you can succeed where Nets Inc. failed?

Companies like [Nets Inc.] do everything right from a technology point of view but run out of cash or don't have an adequate marketing force. We can put that in place.

If I were a startup trying to create one of these exchanges, how would I be able to afford your technology?

We would certainly listen to you, because no one would listen to me when I started up. If it is something we think is a great idea, we would certainly want to give you a break. In a way, we are a perfect fit [with startups]. Our company generates cash. These new companies are in short supply. We would help you get started and then participate in your success. It's kind of like reliving my youth, so it's fun.

What are your favorite Websites?

Oh, I enjoy them all.

Have you bought anything over the Web?

Oh, yeah. Just odds and ends that I have found. As a matter of fact, yesterday I saw a couple of interesting things--I didn't buy them, but I said, "Only on the Web"--a jeep that was so doctored up you couldn't drive it on the street, and a high-speed boat. A few weeks ago I had a friend interested in trying to find the best place to buy Peruvian Paso horses. So we got him on the Internet. Isn't that interesting? People selling horses on the Internet! You would think the average guy out there with a barn and farm probably would not list himself on an Internet site. But there he was. My wife said she wanted a parrot. I suggested she get on the Internet.