Ariba and Lante Team with Genuity to Provide New eMarket Solution on Black Rocket.

Business/Technology Editors

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2000

Industry Leaders Join Growing List of ePartners Providing

Enterprise Network Solutions on Genuity's Network Services Platform

Genuity Inc. (NASDAQ:GENU) today announced that Ariba and Lante have agreed to become Genuity ePartners to provide eMarket solutions on the world's first Network Services Platform (NSP), Black Rocket(TM).

By working together, Genuity, Ariba and Lante will provide solutions that will enable large- and medium-size enterprises to engage in electronic commerce and collaborate over the Internet with their buyers and suppliers. As ePartners, Genuity will host the Ariba Marketplace(R) application as a component of Black Rocket for companies looking for an Ariba-based eMarket solution. Lante will provide systems integration and application development services to customize the solution for those enterprises.

"Enterprises have been waiting a long time for someone to deliver a fully managed eBusiness network solution that they did not have to assemble on their own," said Paul R. Gudonis, chairman and CEO of Genuity. "The addition of industry leaders like Ariba and Lante provides more momentum for our Network Services Platform, Black Rocket. Our ePartners are critical to providing managed eMarket solutions in Internet-time."

Black Rocket, which became commercially available on October 2, is a scalable, stable and proven foundation for building, deploying and managing eBusiness solutions. It consists of fully integrated and pre-provisioned, managed Internet access, hosting, security and transport, along with support for industry-leading software applications including Ariba Marketplace and IBM WebSphere. Genuity guarantees that it will deliver Black Rocket to its customers and ePartners in 10 business days, or it will refund all platform installation fees.

Ariba and Lante Build eMarket Solution on Black Rocket

Building and deploying an eMarket solution with Black Rocket is a three-phase process. In the first phase, Genuity provisions Black Rocket within 10 business days and delivers it to Lante, or another systems integrator, for phase two - building the eMarket solution. Because the platform is pre-provisioned and optimized for use with Ariba Marketplace, a systems integrator can customize the application and build the solution in as few as 30 to 45 business days. The final phase is ongoing. Once the solution is up and running, Genuity hosts and manages the entire application 24x7, providing ongoing maintenance and support, as well as managing and monitoring the site's growth.

"Leveraging our relationships with top eMarket technology providers helps us deliver results for our clients with greater efficiency and reliability," said Marvin Richardson, chief technology officer of Lante. "Black Rocket combines our consulting capabilities and eMarkets intellectual property with leading-edge products and services from Ariba and Genuity to offer a unique solution for companies involved in eMarkets."

"With Lante's implementation and integration experience and Genuity's optimization of Black Rocket for the Ariba Marketplace application, customers will benefit from a quickly deployed and fully managed eMarket solution," added Dan Fishback, vice president, global channels for Ariba.

eCommerce Solutions

In addition to the eMarket solution with Ariba and Lante, eCommerce solutions are also available today on Black Rocket and follow a similar three-phase process. Genuity systems integrator ePartners, such as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, will build an eBusiness solution based on industry-leading eCommerce applications, including IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite, to enable the secure on-line sale of goods and services.

Black Rocket -- The Industry's First NSP

Genuity's Black Rocket provides support for both Unix and NT-based platforms offering greater flexibility for ePartners and customers. Its Tier 1 backbone network provides superior performance for access to customer sites. Black Rocket features:

--A robust Network Services Platform that includes Web and application servers and NSP software (operating system, database, utilities, Web development tools)

--Managed Web hosting 

--Content distribution and performance enhancement tools

--Managed security -- includes VPNs, firewall policy management and monitoring

--Internet access services -- dedicated, remote and broadband access, voice over IP

--Transport services -- ATM, private line, network collocation services

In addition to Genuity's guarantee to deliver Black Rocket to customers or ePartners in 10 business days, the company also guarantees 99.9 percent up-time of the Black Rocket platform.

About Genuity

Genuity is the leading network services provider for businesses changing the world. It is the only company in the industry to offer a Network Services Platform (NSP) that combines its Tier 1 network with its full portfolio of managed Internet services, including dedicated, remote and broadband access, Web hosting and Internet security, to create a platform for creating scalable and repeatable managed eBusiness solutions. With 1999 revenues of $706 million, Genuity (NASDAQ: GENU) is a global company with offices and partnerships throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. Additional information about Genuity can be found at www.genuity.com.