Agreement to Provide Customers Broader Access to “Best-in-Class” Integration Software and Services; Firms to Cross-Sell Products
FAIRFAX, Va. and GAITHERSBURG, Md. – November 8, 2004 – webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM), a leading business integration software company, and Global eXchange Services (GXS), a leading global integration services provider, today announced a broad strategic partnership to jointly resell, develop and market end-to-end business integration solutions. In a move that could reshape the Business-to-Business Integration market, the agreement will allow businesses to seamlessly collaborate with all of their vendors and partners, regardless of size or geography, improving operating efficiencies and customer service.
Central to the strategic partnership will be the combination of webMethods Fabric, a leading suite of business integration software, with the GXS Trading Grid™, a leading global service platform that allows efficient collaboration and information sharing between organizations and external trading partners. Under today’s announcement:
webMethods Fabric software will now be used to power the GXS Trading Grid, which serves over 30,000 customers worldwide.
GXS will leverage webMethods Smart Services™ to rapidly deploy new intelligence and application services to Trading Grid customers, including services such as business activity monitoring and collaborative forecasting.
GXS will expand its managed services portfolio to include fully-outsourced webMethods-based hosting options within its global data centers on the GXS Trading Grid.
GXS Trading Grid will become the preferred solution for webMethods customers to better integrate with vendors and partners globally.
webMethods will make GXS’ product information management solution, Product Information Manager, a preferred option within webMethods Fabric, and will resell GXS’ translation engine, Application Integrator.
Both companies will conduct joint sales and marketing globally, providing customers with single points of contact for their entire integration needs. webMethods and GXS will also collaborate to deliver industry-specific solutions, such as price and promotion synchronization and RFID in the retail market, and managed RosettaNet enablement solutions for the high-tech community. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.
"Our partnership with webMethods will usher in a new era of B2B e-commerce solutions," said Gary Greenfield, GXS president and CEO. “The powerful combination of GXS and webMethods’ individual solutions provides customers with unmatched capabilities that will allow better integration of information and systems with all of their supply chain partners, no matter the size. We will now be able to offer customers a unique strategic approach to integration; an approach that not only streamlines operations to reduce costs, but helps customers increase fulfillment and sales."
“The world’s premier partner enablement service, GXS Trading Grid, will now be powered by webMethods Fabric,” said David Mitchell, president and CEO of webMethods. “And this strategic relationship will provide a tremendous opportunity to extend webMethods Fabric and Smart Services to our combined set of customers. Together, GXS and webMethods will offer differentiated and robust integration solutions that competitors simply can’t match.”
“I like what I see in this partnership because it brings together the best of both worlds, GXS’ Trading Grid strength in B2B services with webMethods’ compelling EAI platform,” said Greg Park, Trading Partner Implementations manager, Coca-Cola Customer Business Solutions. “We are looking forward to the enhanced business process and collaborative capabilities this partnership will bring to Coke and our trading community.”
webMethods and GXS will be showcasing the new partnership and solutions this week at webMethods Integration World 2004, being held November 8-10 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, Ca. The worldwide user conference allows more than 1,200 webMethods customers a chance to gather to maximize their insight and know-how of business integration to improve operational efficiency, corporate agility, and competitiveness.
About Global eXchange Services
Global eXchange Services (GXS) is a leading provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration. Organizations worldwide, including over half of the Fortune 500, leverage GXS’ global interoperability and supply chain execution solutions to achieve the perfect balance of supply and demand. Active in the global standards arena, GXS solutions, powered by the Trading GridSM, enable customers both large and small, to connect with global partners, synchronize product information and optimize the execution of supply chains.
Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., GXS provides sales and support to businesses and their partners worldwide. For more information about GXS visit http://www.gxs.com/.
About webMethods, Inc.
webMethods (Nasdaq: WEBM) provides business integration software to integrate, assemble and optimize available IT assets to drive business process productivity. webMethods delivers an innovative, enterprise-class business integration platform that incorporates proven integration technology with next generation capabilities into one interoperable set of tools that delivers a unique combination of efficiency, agility and control. webMethods combines industry leadership with a zealous commitment to customers to deliver tangible business value to more than 1,200 global customers. webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan. More information about webMethods can be found at www.webmethods.com/
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webMethods is a registered trademark and Smart Services is a trademark of webMethods, Inc. in the USA and certain other countries. All other company and product names are the property of their respective owners.
This press release may contain various remarks about the future expectations, plans and prospects of webMethods that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of U.S. securities laws. The actual results of webMethods may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed under the heading "Factors That May Affect Future Operating Results" in the Business section of webMethods' Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2004, and in the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” section of webMethods’ Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, which are on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and may be accessed at www.sec.gov/ or webMethods' investor relations web page at www.webMethods.com/investors/. webMethods disclaims any obligation to update or correct any forward-looking statements made herein due to the occurrence of events after the issuance of this press release.
This document includes certain "forward-looking statements" for Global eXchange Services within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory factors. These factors include technological developments, customer demand, trading partner participation and network availability.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This document includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory factors. These factors include technological developments, customer demand, trading partner participation and network availability.
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