FreeMarkets Joins UDDI Project; Company to Collaborate With Other Industry Leaders in Development of Standards To Accelerate B2B Integration and e-commerce

Business Wire, March 13, 2001

Business Editors

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2001

FreeMarkets, Inc. (Nasdaq:FMKT), the leading B2B Global Marketplace and eSourcing solutions provider, today announced that it has joined the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) Project. A cross-industry initiative designed to accelerate and broaden B2B integration and e-commerce, the UDDI project seeks to create the basic infrastructure for dynamic, automated integration of all e-commerce transactions and web services.

"The rapid rate at which B2B e-commerce solutions are being adopted on a global basis has created a critical demand for common standards that make it easy for companies to describe, find and use Web-based services," said William Blair, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at FreeMarkets.

As a UDDI advisor, FreeMarkets will participate in the development of such standards by collaborating with other business and technology leaders to create a platform-independent, open framework for describing services, discovering businesses and integrating business services using the Internet. This framework will not only allow businesses to provide information on their products and services, but to integrate their systems and processes with those of their customers and partners by placing them in an open, universally accessible registry.

Announced in September 2000, the UDDI Business Registry allows companies to publish information on their offerings, indicate their preferred means of conducting e-commerce transactions, and establish or enhance the efficiency of relationships with other B2B companies in the registry through advanced search capabilities.

"As the leading B2B Global Marketplace, FreeMarkets understands how crucial it is for buyers, suppliers, customers and partners to be able to interact online in real-time," Mr. Blair added. "That's why we are supporting UDDI and committing ourselves to the development of standards that will make it easier for businesses to communicate and seamlessly integrate a vast array of e-business technologies and solutions via the Internet."

FreeMarkets joins more than 220 other industry leaders in supporting the UDDI project, including: American Express Co., Accenture, Ariba Inc., Boeing, Cargill Inc., Commerce One Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Ford Motor Company, Fujitsu Ltd., Hewlett Packard, i2, IBM Corp., Intel, Internet Capital Group, Iomega, Loudcloud Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nortel Networks Corp., NTT Communications Corp., SAP AG, Sun Microsystems Inc., TIBCO Software Inc., Ventro Corp., Versata Inc., VeriSign, and VerticalNet Inc.

"As a founding member of the UDDI project, we are very pleased to welcome FreeMarkets to the community of advisors," said Chris Kurt, group program manager for UDDI and Web Services at Microsoft Corp. "FreeMarkets brings substantial e-sourcing experience and leadership to the UDDI community, and we look forward to working with it and the rest of UDDI's members to lay the foundation for the future of e-commerce."

About FreeMarkets

FreeMarkets is the leading B2B Global Marketplace and eSourcing solutions provider. FreeMarkets combines its industry-leading technology platform with unparalleled sourcing information, commodity-specific domain knowledge, world-class services and purchasing scale to deliver fast, measurable savings to customers. FreeMarkets has created over 9,200 online markets for more than $14 billion worth of goods and services and created estimated savings of over $2.7 billion for its customers. The FreeMarkets B2B Global Marketplace enables buying organizations to source products from more than 165 supply verticals. More than 9,300 suppliers from over 55 countries have participated in the FreeMarkets B2B Global Marketplace. The Company also operates FreeMarkets Asset Exchange, the leading B2B Global Marketplace for surplus assets and inventory. FreeMarkets can be found on the Web at www.freemarkets.com. FreeMarkets is a registered trademark of FreeMarkets, Inc.

Forward-looking statements

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including those statements that refer to FreeMarkets' plans, prospects, expectations, strategies, intentions, and beliefs, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to FreeMarkets today, and FreeMarkets assumes no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, market acceptance of FreeMarkets' B2B Global Marketplace and new products and services that FreeMarkets introduces, the competitive nature of the market for business-to-business online auction and e-commerce services, FreeMarkets' ability to attract new customers, through its own efforts and through partnerships and alliances, to retain and increase revenue from existing customers and to attract new customers, FreeMarkets' ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, the size of the market for used equipment and surplus inventory, the demand for online auction and other asset recovery services by buyers and suppliers, and FreeMarkets' ability to integrate acquisitions and manage growth. You should carefully review these and other risk factors that are described in more detail in FreeMarkets' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.