REDMOND, Wash., and PLEASANTON, Calif., Nov. 6, 2000 — As an expansion of their global alliance, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Commerce One Inc. (Nasdaq: CMRC), the leader in global e-commerce solutions for business, today announced joint initiatives designed to make it easy and profitable for suppliers of all sizes to connect and sell through e-marketplaces. By accelerating supplier adoption and providing Commerce One and Microsoft customers with a broader and deeper range of sell-side functionality, it is expected that these initiatives will help maximize supplier participation in e-marketplaces and drive
e-marketplace liquidity.
Commerce One and Microsoft have jointly developed a connector for quickly integrating suppliers into Commerce One-based e-marketplaces as part of Microsoft’s newly developed Supplier Accelerator. In addition, Commerce One is joining with Microsoft and other industry leaders to participate in the E-Business Acceleration Pilot Program, and Advisory Council. These activities are part of Microsoft’s E-Business Acceleration initiative and also support the mission of the Commerce One and Microsoft global alliance.
Commerce One and Microsoft are aligning on a global go-to-market strategy to drive the growth of e-marketplace adoption, including collaboration on XML standards, global marketing and sales initiatives and joint development programs. The companies are collaborating on the development and delivery of a next-generation Commerce One e-marketplace infrastructure optimized for the Microsoft® .NET Platform and designed to lower the technology barriers to e-marketplace adoption.
“We are providing open access to worldwide markets, allowing trading partners to buy and sell products and services on a global basis,”
said Mike Micucci, vice president of product strategy at Commerce One.
“We believe our alliance with Microsoft will drive e-marketplace liquidity by providing a broad range of solutions that accelerate supplier participation in B2B e-commerce.”
Commerce One and Microsoft Initiatives
Commerce One and Microsoft are leveraging standards, such as xCBL, to facilitate supplier e-marketplace connectivity and content management to enable interoperability among disparate computing environments, sell-side software solutions, business documents and business processes.
The companies have jointly developed a connector based on Microsoft BizTalk™ Server 2000 that maps catalog and order information from Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 to Commerce One e-marketplaces. The connector is part of Microsoft Supplier Accelerator, designed to make it easy for suppliers of any size or complexity to significantly extend their market reach by connecting to multiple e-marketplaces. This connector will be utilized by bCentral™
to extend the newly announced bCentral Commerce Manager, enabling this same empowerment and reach for small suppliers as well.
Under the E-Business Acceleration Pilot Program, Commerce One and Microsoft will work together with key suppliers and market-makers to identify and disseminate best practices for building solutions for direct and indirect channels, including e-procurement and e-marketplaces. In addition, Commerce One is a founding member of Microsoft’s E-Business Acceleration Advisory Council, working collaboratively to determine and address supplier requirements across multiple implementation scenarios.
“Microsoft and Commerce One will fuel the network effect by delivering superior solutions that enable suppliers of any size and complexity to connect quickly and cost-effectively to e-marketplaces,”
said Chris Atkinson, vice president of the .NET Enterprise Solutions Group at Microsoft.
“This is one of the first multimarketplace solutions that can be used by any supplier — from those that are technologically sophisticated to those just starting out.”
About the Microsoft E-Business Acceleration Initiative
E-Business Acceleration is a joint initiative of Microsoft and its partners to help businesses of any size take advantage of B2B opportunities. Commerce One and Microsoft are working with Compaq Computer Corp. to develop solutions that provide a seamless path for connecting suppliers of any size to a variety of e-marketplaces and other channels. The
E-Business Acceleration initiative helps businesses meet their immediate needs, while building on a scalable solution that offers migration to more powerful technologies to accommodate growth. This end-to-end enablement offers suppliers tools to access and manage their channels, added reach into untapped markets, and new, expanded sales opportunities, producing a solution that can connect any supplier to any marketplace.
“To enable e-marketplace liquidity, you have to make it easy and compelling for all potential trading partners to participate,”
said Mark Linesch, vice president of dotCOM & Service Provider Solutions at Compaq.
“Compaq is excited to work with Commerce One and Microsoft to support Microsoft’s E-Business Acceleration initiative by creating new solutions that address suppliers’ greatest challenges — connecting to and leveraging e-marketplaces.”
About Commerce One
Commerce One is the leader in global e-commerce solutions for business. Through its products and services, Commerce One creates access to worldwide markets, allowing anyone to buy from anyone, any time, anywhere. The Commerce One Global Trading Web™
is the world’s largest business-to-business trading community. Comprising many open e-marketplaces, the Global Trading Web provides unprecedented economies of scale for buying organizations, suppliers and service providers worldwide. Through its alliance with SAPMarkets Inc., Commerce One enables enterprises and communities of all sizes and industries to more efficiently conduct collaborative business on the Internet. Commerce One is located in Pleasanton, Calif., and can be reached by phone at (800) 308-3838 or (925) 520-6000 or via the Internet at http://www.commerceone.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
Forward Looking Statements
The foregoing paragraphs include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements include statements concerning the further expansion of the Commerce One and Microsoft alliance to provide combined e-commerce solutions so as to better enable suppliers to connect to e-marketplaces and the anticipated benefits to be gained from their joint initiatives. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those described in such statements as a result of a number of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the risk that the parties do not execute definitive agreements with respect to the alliance, that the final terms of the agreement differ from those initially planned, the ability of the parties to execute on their plans for the alliance and to continue to support the alliance, the cooperation of the parties, unexpected operational difficulties, the e-marketplace infrastructure solutions developed and delivered by the parties may not meet user expectation, the extent of user adoption and utilization of such solutions, actual efficiencies and economies of scale may not be as pronounced as those anticipated by the parties, a general downturn in economic conditions, and intense and increasing competition in the market. For a discussion of these and other risk factors that could affect Commerce One’s business, see
“Risk Factors”
in Commerce One’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 1999, and its quarterly report on Form 10Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2000.
Microsoft, BizTalk and bCentral are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Commerce One and Global Trading Web are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Commerce One Inc.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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