IBM and MarketMile Forge e-Business On Demand Alliance; Companies to Provide Flexible, Pay-As-You-Go e-Procurement Service.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2002

IBM and MarketMile today announced an e-business on demand alliance designed to help customers quickly reap the benefits of e-procurement and manage indirect expense spending via the Internet. Under terms of the agreement, MarketMile, an e-procurement service provider founded by American Express, will provide expanded application options, supplier enablement and functionality for IBM's Leveraged Procurement Service.

Leveraged Procurement Service is an IBM e-business on demand offering that uses partner-designed software solutions and strategic sourcing expertise from IBM Global Services to enable companies to rapidly conduct business-to-business transactions over the Internet with suppliers. IBM's alliance with MarketMile extends the capabilities of the Leveraged Procurement Service, providing customers access to MarketMile's hosted e-procurement application, supplier network and critical services such as catalog management, supplier enablement and adoption management.

"MarketMile is an ideal business partner to help expand IBM's Leveraged Procurement Service," said William Schaefer, vice-president of Procurement Services, IBM Global Services. "MarketMile's hosted delivery model meets our requirements for e-business on demand applications and their supplier network provides IBM Leveraged Procurement customers ready access to an additional set of national suppliers. Together, these features help speed customer deployment and create potential for a quick return on investment."

"This alliance will leverage IBM's expertise in e-business and strategic sourcing with MarketMile's e-procurement model and supplier network to help customers smoothly transition to e-procurement," said Ed Gilligan, Chairman of the Board, MarketMile and group president, American Express Global Corporate Services. "Together, IBM and MarketMile can provide considerable e-procurement and expense management expertise and reach a broad customer base through well established sales and support channels."

Leveraged Procurement Service: Overcoming Obstacles to Savings

Electronic procurement, or e-procurement, allows organizations to move their purchasing processes to Internet-based systems, automating the buying cycle from requisition through payment stages.

IBM's Leveraged Procurement Service extends e-procurement by providing a rapidly deployable, subscription based solution that extends from sourcing and payment through to tracking and procurement data analysis. Utilizing partner-developed applications, IBM Global Services e-procurement specialists develop online catalogs for customers and help company employees to select strategic suppliers for goods and services, as well as to negotiate prices for everything from standard office products to maintenance, repair and operations supplies. Users can manage the entire procurement process through a single Web interface.

"If widespread adoption is proof of market maturity, then e-procurement is entering adulthood with the new Leveraged Procurement Service offering from IBM and MarketMile," said Tim Minahan, vice president of Supply Chain Research at Aberdeen Group, Inc. "Leveraged Procurement Service overcomes existing cost, resource, and skill burdens to deliver a business-ready procurement solution that is rapidly deployable and accessible to midsize enterprises."

"Taking greater control over indirect spending through e-procurement is important as The Moore Company continues to advance its diverse business operations," said Jim O'Connor, director of purchasing, The Moore Company. "The IBM Leveraged Procurement Service powered by MarketMile provides a practical solution, with a fully functional e-procurement application and the potential for a speedy implementation cycle, all backed by IBM, a service provider we can trust."

IBM and MarketMile Deliver e-business on-demand

Customers utilizing the new MarketMile-powered Leveraged Procurement Service from IBM can access pre-enabled IBM suppliers along with MarketMile's network of more than 60 industry-leading suppliers. Together, these suppliers cover 95 percent of the standard products in categories such as office products, computer hardware and software, and certain categories of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) materials. In addition, MarketMile's catalog management service allows suppliers to customize pricing to reflect existing contracts and eliminate much of the supplier-enablement burden faced by other e-procurement solutions.

IBM's Leveraged Procurement Service will also take advantage of MarketMile's new search and catalog management functions, based on a customized version of Requisite Technology software. Combined with MarketMile's intuitive end-user interface, these functions provide a superior user experience. MarketMile's services are also designed to work in conjunction with American Express Corporate Services expense management solutions so customers can easily integrate other procurement-related tasks, such as electronically reconciling purchases and transferring data into back-end financial systems.

MarketMile incorporates technology from Ariba as part of its e-procurement solution. Ariba is an IBM global strategic alliance partner and together, IBM and Ariba offer enterprise spend management solutions that enable customers to reduce costs.

The MarketMile-powered Leveraged Procurement Service is IBM's newest e-business on demand offering, combining usage-based pricing with predictable monthly billing. In addition to Leveraged Procurement Service, IBM offers a wide variety of e-business on demand services for customers, including e-procurement, remote network management, managed storage, managed hosting and document exchange. IBM e-business on demand services extend the capabilities of information technology by delivering applications, infrastructure and business processes over a network on a utility-like basis. For more information on IBM e-business on demand services, visit: www.ibm.com/e-business/ondemand.

About IBM Global Services

IBM Global Services is the world's largest information technology services provider, with approximately 150,000 professionals serving customers in 160 countries and annual revenue of about $35 billion (2001). IBM Global Services integrates IBM's broad range of capabilities -- consulting, services, hardware, software and research -- to help companies of all sizes realize the full value of information technology. For more information, visit: www.ibm.com/services

About MarketMile

MarketMile is an e-procurement service provider enabling companies to save money rapidly with a low total cost of ownership. The company delivers a hosted e-procurement solution combined with a robust network of national and buyer requested suppliers. MarketMile's supplier network provides businesses ready access to more than 60 of the nation's leading suppliers in categories such as office products, maintenance, repair and operations materials, and computer hardware and software. Using MarketMile's solutions, companies gain procurement process control, reduce process costs and realize hard-dollar savings. MarketMile provides an affordable pricing model ensuring that companies can attain a rapid solution payback. Located in Mountain View, CA, MarketMile is a private company funded by American Express (NYSE:AXP), NexPrise, Inc (Nasdaq:NXPS) and eVolution Global Partners. For more information about MarketMile and its services, please visit www.marketmile.com. MarketMile and its logo are trademarks of MarketMile, LLC.