webMethods Aggressively Expands Support for Open Security Standards; Support of New Standards Simplifies and Accelerates Deployment of Secure B2B Transactions.

Business/Technology Editors

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2001

webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM), the leading provider of integration software solutions for Global 2000 corporations, major B2B exchanges and leading software application vendors, today announced it has aggressively expanded its support for open security standards such as Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), XML Key Management Specification (XKMS) and XML Encryption. Through support of these standards, webMethods will enable Global 2000 customers and B2B marketplaces to integrate security services across company boundaries thereby simplifying and accelerating the deployment of secure B2B transactions.

Traditionally, security has been implemented within a single enterprise. However, companies are increasingly conducting business transactions between different enterprises and across multiple marketplaces that have their own unique security solutions. By developing and adopting open security standards that can transcend company and application boundaries, companies can securely exchange information with their customers, partners or suppliers regardless of the security systems or applications that they have in place.

webMethods security initiatives are spearheaded by Jeremy Epstein, webMethods' director of security architecture. Mr. Epstein has over 13 years of experience as a security engineer and architect. Mr. Epstein is also the program chair for the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC), a leading conference that explores technology applications targeted at improving the computer security field.

"Almost all B2B transactions involve multiple business partners at some level, therefore the need to build and offer security standards that reduce complexity and transcend application boundaries continues to grow," said Epstein. "webMethods' comprehensive support of open security standards provides the framework for secure e-business transactions across multiple and diverse business partners to enable faster and more secure B2B transactions."

webMethods Expands Open Security Standards Initiative

The webMethods product family was designed to provide broad support for open standards and protocols, such as XML, RosettaNet, ebXML, FpML, cXML, xCBL, OBI, OAG, ACORD and the BizTalk framework. Over the last several months, webMethods has partnered with industry leaders to expand its support of the following security standards:

--SAML is the first industry standard for enabling secure e-commerce transactions through the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). SAML was developed to provide a common language for the sharing of security services between companies engaged in B2B and B2C business transactions. The SAML effort grew out of the S2ML effort led by Netegrity (of which webMethods was a key player) and the AuthXML effort led by Securant. SAML is an open industry initiative, operating under the OASIS banner, in which any organization can participate and implement the specifications.

--XKMS revolutionizes the development of trusted B2B and B2C applications by introducing an open framework that enables virtually any application developer to easily build in access to public key infrastructure products and services. With the XKMS specification, developers are able to integrate advanced technologies such as digital signature handling and encryption into their Web-based applications. The XKMS specification promotes the interoperability of these advanced technologies through its use of XML. Jointly designed and prototyped by VeriSign, Microsoft and webMethods with industry support from other technology leaders--The XKMS standard was submitted in February of 2001 to the appropriate Web standard bodies for consideration as an open Internet standard.

--XML Encryption allows for selective encryption of XML documents, thus allowing for key fields to be accessible to some recipients but not others. XML Encryption began as a W3C working group in early 2001.

About webMethods, Inc.

webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq:WEBM) is the leading provider of integration software solutions for Global 2000 corporations, major B2B exchanges and leading software application vendors. The webMethods integration platform allows customers to achieve quantifiable R.O.I. by linking business processes, enterprise and legacy applications, databases and workflows both within and across enterprises. By deploying the webMethods integration platform, customers reduce costs, create new revenue opportunities, strengthen relationships with customers, substantially increase supply chain efficiencies and streamline internal business processes.

Founded in 1996, webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. webMethods has more than 550 customers worldwide--from Global 2000 leaders such as Citibank, Dell, Eastman Chemical, The Ford Motor Company, Grainger, Motorola and Starbucks to major industry-backed exchanges like ForestExpress, eHITEX/Converge and PetroCosm. webMethods' strategic partners include Ariba, Broadvision, Commerce One, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, i2 Technologies, J.D. Edwards, KPMG Consulting, Microsoft, Oracle Corp., SAP AG and Siebel Systems. More information about the company can be found at www.webMethods.com.

webMethods is a registered trademark of webMethods, Inc. All other company and product names are property of their respective owners.

This press release contains various remarks about the future expectations, plans and prospects of webMethods that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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 in the Risk Factors section of webMethods' recent Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2000, as amended, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.