WorldWide Retail Exchange Selects E-Business Alliance of IBM, i2 and Ariba as Technology Provider
Exchange Expected to Lower Prices for Consumers and Lower Costs for Retailers and Suppliers
July 13, 2000
The WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE), the world's leading retail e-marketplace, today announced the selection of its technology partner, the e-business alliance of IBM (NYSE: IBM), i2 Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITWO) and Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA).
The WWRE is an independent, member-owned, neutral organization that will permit participating retailers to conduct a full range of food, non-food, textile and drug e-commerce transactions with individual suppliers, independent of one another. With its technology partner selected, the Exchange will quickly become operational with first auctions scheduled to occur this summer.
"The Ariba-i2-IBM alliance won this multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract on the basis of the breadth, scope and depth of the capabilities it has shown it can bring to bear on our requirements, its proven ability to implement solutions quickly and by acting as a unified entity in responding to our issues and needs during the selection process," said Patrick Steele, head of technology and operations for the WWRE and Albertson's executive vice president of information systems and technology. "Demonstrating a clear understanding of our needs, the Alliance reached beyond its core members to bring us the valuable additional capabilities of Syncra Systems, viaLink, QRS and Retek," said Steele.
"The technology platform that the alliance will build and manage for us will enable current member retailers, others who choose to join us, and our vendors and suppliers to increase efficiencies and reduce costs through improved communication and streamlined processes," said Gerald Storch, head of marketing for the WWRE and Target Corporation president of financial services and new business. "Through technology, the Exchange will improve current relationships and build new ones between retailers and their suppliers and vendors, creating cost reductions throughout the supply chain that will ultimately translate into lower prices for consumers.
"The Exchange supports what is happening in our industry today. We're seeing an increased use of technology across all retail sectors to reduce waste and increase efficiency in the overall supply chain," said Storch.
"A central tenet of the WWRE is to leverage standards such as the CPFR guidelines developed by the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards (VICS) Association, as well as emerging XML and Internet standards," said Steele.
IBM will provide system integration and host the exchange, which will be powered by the Ariba(R) B2B Commerce Platform and i2's TradeMatrix(TM) solutions. Ariba will provide its Ariba Marketplace, Ariba Dynamic Trade and Ariba Buyer Solutions together with access to commerce services ranging from logistics services such as total landed cost calculation to financial services such as e-payments. i2 will also provide components to manage retail collaboration, design collaboration, supply chain visibility and catalog management services.
Syncra Systems will provide collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) capabilities. The viaLink Company's syncLinkSM service will provide the electronic pricebook for synchronized product, price and promotion data. QRS will provide access to its Keystone(TM) catalog, as well as network services. Retek will provide access to its design collaboration solution.
"e-Commerce and the Internet have more to offer retailers than a new kind of storefront," said Terry Turner, group vice president, i2. "The Internet can be used to unleash retailers' and suppliers' hidden assets so they can operate more efficiently, keeping their costs down while serving their customers better. The WWRE is a visionary effort by retailers to collaborate for the benefit of all. We're proud to be part of this effort."
"The selection of our alliance as a preferred technology provider demonstrates the superiority of our technology and is a vote of confidence that the alliance has no equal in helping to transform businesses," said Christian Nivoix, IBM general manager, Distribution Sector.
"The WWRE has the potential to quickly become one of the largest B2B marketplaces in the world based on the critical mass of spend and transaction volumes represented by its extensive global roster of leaders in the retail industry," said Paul Work, vice president, industry solutions, Ariba. "The combined resources and market-proven, best-of-breed solutions of Ariba, IBM and i2 are uniquely capable of meeting the global requirements of the WWRE with the shortest possible time-to-liquidity."
About the WorldWide
Retail Exchange
The WWRE (www.worldwideretailexchange.org)
is a Web-based business-to-business exchange designed to facilitate and simplify
trading between retailers and more than 100,000 suppliers, partners and distributors.
Consisting of leading retailers from Asia, Europe and the United States, the
WWRE is open to all suppliers and retailers who wish to use it. Jointly, the
member companies of the Exchange operate nearly 50,000 stores worldwide and
have combined sales of more than $450 billion (U.S.) or 450 billion Euros.
Current members of the WorldWide Retail Exchange include: Albertson's (U.S.), Auchan (France), Best Buy (U.S.), Casino (France), CVS (U.S.), Dairy Farm International (Hong Kong), Delhaize (Belgium), El Corte Ingles (Spain), Gap Inc. (U.S.), J.C. Penney (U.S.), Jusco (Japan), Kingfisher (U.K.), Kmart (U.S.), Marks & Spencer (U.K.), Rite Aid Corporation (U.S.), Royal Ahold (The Netherlands), Safeway, Inc. (U.S.), Safeway plc (U.K.), SUPERVALU INC. (U.S.), Target (U.S.), Tesco (U.K.) and Walgreens (U.S.).
About the IBM/i2/Ariba
Alliance
In March, IBM, i2 and Ariba announced a strategic alliance to create a broad,
end-to-end solution for business-to-business e-commerce and collaboration, leveraging
the strengths of each company. The three companies together created a best-of-breed,
full-service marketplace solution, an integrated supply chain solution and a
set of services to help customers take full advantage of the benefits of e-commerce.
Together, they now power more than 100 e-marketplaces, including six of the
10 largest in the world.
IBM is the world's largest information technology provider (hardware, software and services) with 1999 revenues of more than $87 billion and is the worldwide leader in e-business solutions. Ariba is the leading B2B eCommerce platform provider to leading companies around the world, including more than 20 of the Fortune 100. i2 is the leading global provider of intelligent e-business solutions. Founded in 1988, i2's mission is to deliver $50 billion in value to its customers by 2005. i2 is headquartered in Dallas, has approximately 4,800 employees and maintains offices worldwide. More information about IBM is available at www.ibm.com. Visit i2's Web site at www.i2.com. Ariba's home page is at www.ariba.com.
More information about Syncra Systems can be found at www.syncrasystems.com. Information on The viaLink Company (Nasdaq: VLNK) is available at www.vialink.com. QRS (Nasdaq: QRSI) information can be found at www.qrs.com. Retek Inc. (Nasdaq: RETK) is on the Web at www.retek.com.
i2 and the i2 logo design are registered trademarks of i2 Technologies, Inc. TradeMatrix is a trademark of i2 Technologies, Inc. IBM is a trademark or registered trademark of IBM Corporation. Ariba is a registered trademark of Ariba, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective companies.
Information in this release
may involve expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions or strategies regarding
the future. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.
All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information
available to the parties as of the date of the release, and no party assumes
any obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. The statements
in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results
could differ materially from the parties' current expectations. Numerous factors
could cause or contribute to such differences. Some of the factors and risks
associated with the parties' business are discussed in their registration statement
and in the other reports filed by it from time to time with the SEC. Some of
Ariba's factors and risks can be found on Form S-1 declared effective by the
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on June 22, 1999. For a discussion
of factors which could impact i2's financial results and cause actual results
to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, please refer
to i2's recent filings with the SEC, particularly the Form 10-K filed March
22, 2000, and Form 10-Q filed May 15, 2000.
SOURCE:
July 13, 2000 Press Release
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