BT and Boots Kick Off e-Business; Leading UK Businesses Select BT and Commerce One Electronic Procurement Solution.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 1999--Following on from BT and Commerce One Inc.'s announcement last month of a licensing deal to establish BT MarketSite, a major UK business-to-business electronic market place for indirect goods, the companies announced today that The Boots Company, a major UK retail group, and BT itself, have signed up to the service.

The solution, comprising BT MarketSite and Commerce One BuySite, will enable Boots and one of Europe's biggest companies in procurement terms, BT, to take advantage of significant cost reductions offered by e-Business over established trading methods. Indirect goods such as travel, computer hardware and software, stationery and maintenance services will simply be ordered online.

Commerce One is a leading US electronic commerce solution provider. This deal will combine their Commerce Chain Solution electronic procurement software, comprising MarketSite (licensed to BT in the UK) and BuySite, with BT's e-Business supply-chain expertise. Electronic procurement enables businesses, both buyers and sellers, to achieve significant cost reductions and a greatly enhanced return on investment.

Boots and BT will be able to place and track orders from a range of sellers by accessing one site. This will enable the companies to streamline buying processes and reduce purchasing cycle times by automatically handling purchase authorization, accounting and contractual procedures.

Jonathan Gribbin, project manager for Boots e-commerce initiative, said: "Our aim is to establish world-class procurement practise, and we wanted a solution that would reduce processing costs and channel spend through a reduced supplier base. We considered several options and chose the Commerce One/BT solution because it offers a user-friendly system for our employees and manages the issues of integration with multiple suppliers. We were also impressed with their commitment to the rapid implementation of our key suppliers."

Patricia Vaz, director BT UK Business Services, said: "We're delighted to be working with Commerce One as we have identified them as market leaders for procurement services. We are committed to changing the way we do business by optimising our indirect purchasing procedures to increase efficiency. To achieve this, we have set a target of 95% of BT's indirect procurement to be sourced using the e-Business solutions by March 2000."

John Swingewood, BT's Internet director, with responsibility for e-Business at BT, said: "We are pleased that Boots, a major UK retailer, with significant indirect procurement needs has decided to implement BT MarketSite so quickly. This demonstrates the power of BT and Commerce One's solution. In addition, BT is really demonstrating its commitment to this new service for its own procurement needs.

"Boots and BT are leading UK industry in the practical implementation of e-Business solutions and are set to gain huge cost advantages by using BT MarketSite.

Notes to editors

Indirect goods are those used by businesses internally rather than for processing into resellable goods or services. The indirect goods market is estimated to be worth around (pound)21 billion in the UK for office equipment alone.

Forrester Research projects that the value of goods and services traded over the Internet as a whole in the UK will grow from $257 million in 1998 to more than $12 billion in 2001. (source: Europe's Internet Growth, Forrester Research, April 1998).

BT/Commerce Chain Solution

The Commerce Chain Solution by Commerce One is the first electronic procurement solution to fully automate the entire procurement process. The solution comprises Commerce One BuySite(tm), an intranet application that automates the internal procurement process from requisition to order and Commerce One MarketSite(tm) (licensed to BT in the UK), an extranet environment that automates buyers' interactions with their suppliers, including purchase order transmission, status checks and payments.

One of the key challenges of automating buying and selling over the Internet has been collating product content from different suppliers into one standard catalogue. Commerce One MarketSite provides an efficient and effective way for buyers and suppliers to meet online. Supplier catalogue content is aggregated into one unified catalogue to enable transactional capabilities between trading partners. As a part of this alliance, BT will be responsible for obtaining and managing the supplier content and for integrating suppliers into MarketSite. This service will provide a cost effective end-to-end solution for both buyers and suppliers. Together, BT and Commerce One will establish an online trading environment with their preferred suppliers through the Commerce Chain Solution(tm).

About Commerce One

Commerce One is a global leader in providing web-based, enterprise procurement solutions that dynamically link buying and supplying organisations into real-time trading communities. The Commerce Chain Solution by Commerce One enables companies to significantly reduce operational costs and increase efficiency by automating the entire indirect goods and services supply chain. As a result, enterprise organisations are able to realise a strategic competitive advantage as well as a rapid return on investment.

The Commerce Chain Solution includes Commerce One BuySite, which automates the internal procurement process from requisition to order, and Commerce One MarketSite, which automates supplier interactions from order to payment.

About BT Internet & e-Business

BT Internet & Multimedia Services provides a large range of on-line services for consumer and business use. Its e-Business portfolio includes:

-    a range of corporate intranet services;
-    web hosting for SMEs through BT WebWorld and internet access
     through Connect to Business;
-    online access for SMEs to e-Business applications through its
     recently announced BusinessManager service.