Commerce One Teams Up with Cephren, Inc. to Create B2B Internet Marketplace for the Building and Construction Industry

Business Wire, Jan 24, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

WALNUT CREEK and PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000

Internet Commerce Service Provider Automates Procurement, Increases

Efficiency and Lowers Costs

Cephren, Inc., the leader in collaboration and e-commerce services for the $3.2 trillion global building and construction industry, today announced a strategic partnership with Commerce One, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMRC), the leader in global e-commerce solutions for business. Cephren, Inc.'s e-commerce services will streamline procurement practices in the complex and fragmented building and construction industry. Cephren is the first business-to-business `dotcom' firm to implement Commerce One's solutions on its online procurement network. By integrating Commerce One MarketSite, the U.S. portal for exchanging goods and services worldwide, and Commerce One BuySite, the premier electronic procurement application, into its network, Cephren is strongly positioned as the online B2B standard for the global building and construction industry.

Cephren is a new company formed by the merger of Blueline Online, Inc., the leading provider of Internet-based project collaboration services to the building and construction industry, and eBricks.com, Inc., a leading B2B e-commerce procurement network for buyers and sellers of construction products and equipment. Cephren leverages the strength of both of its offerings to deliver the first end-to-end, Web-based solution for the building and construction industry - from project concept to completion.

Cephren serves more than 800 firms and has 10,000 project collaboration subscribers on five continents, representing projects with a construction value of more than $40 billion. Cephren's charter e-commerce customers represent over $1.5 billion in potential online procurement transactions annually. Based on the Commerce One MarketSite portal solution, the Cephren procurement network will enable members of the construction industry to buy and sell construction materials and products from one virtual location, increasing their ability to bid/quote on projects and reduce procurement costs.

&uot;The Commerce One MarketSite and BuySite solutions will enable Cephren to rapidly launch a full range of e-commerce services that will provide construction industry participants with a seamless and intuitive environment to buy and sell goods and services. Our partnership with Commerce One also cements our position as the B2B e-commerce standard for the construction industry,&uot; said Robert J. Majteles, president and CEO of Cephren.

Commerce One MarketSite is an open, business-to-business marketplace providing comprehensive e-commerce services and real-time access to a large community of suppliers. Cephren's online procurement network will run in conjunction with MarketSite and will also link to the Commerce One Global Trading Web(TM), the world's largest business-to-business trading community. Manufacturers, distributors, and general and specialty contractors will also be able to access the Cephren network via Commerce One's BuySite e-procurement application. Participants will be able to access and buy from online catalogs, engage in auctions and reverse auctions, and automatically generate transaction documents such as requests for bids/quotes, purchase orders, and invoices.

Cephren's MarketSite will first make the online catalogs available to distributors, manufacturers and specialty contractors and will then expand to open trading between buyers and suppliers.

&uot;Cephren has taken a leadership role by creating a comprehensive vertical marketplace for the building and construction industry,&uot; said Chuck Donchess, vice president of marketing and business development at Commerce One. &uot;Our relationship with Cephren underscores the demand for MarketSite solutions among growing `dotcom' companies in addition to the more established organizations that have typically used EDI solutions. We believe that our partnership with Cephren will significantly improve the time-to-market for the global building and construction industry.&uot;

About Cephren, Inc.

Cephren (www.cephren.com) is changing the way the world is built with its collaboration and E-Commerce framework. Its integrated, online collaboration and e-commerce offering enables companies in the $3.2 trillion global building and construction industry to increase revenues, accelerate time-to-market, and reduce risk. Cephren is the industry pioneer serving this market, with collaboration customers at internationally renowned firms including The Bechtel Group, Webcor Builders, Gensler, HOK, Odebrecht, 3Com, BSW International, Global Design Alliance, Psomas, and Wimberly Allison Tong &Goo. Cephren's e-commerce offering has attracted a rapidly expanding network of buyers and sellers such as Avon-Wesco, Mass Electric, E-J Electric Co., Liberty-Wesco, Fischbach &Moore LLC, DualStar Technologies, Forest Electric (EMCOR) and Midwest Mechanical of New Jersey.

Cephren is based in Palo Alto, California with offices across the United States and the United Kingdom, in addition to strategic channel partners in Asia and Latin America.