SAQQARA Becomes Advisor to UDDI Consortium; SAQQARA Joins IBM, Microsoft and Ariba in Setting Industry Standards For Registering e-Commerce Services

Business Wire, March 26, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 2001

SAQQARA(R) Systems Inc., a leading provider of product content software and services for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, today announced that it has joined founding members IBM, Microsoft, and Ariba as an advisor to the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) consortium.

The UDDI consortium is the first cross-industry initiative driven by leading e-commerce providers to facilitate B2B alliances through a standards-based registry that allows businesses to quickly locate Web services over the Internet.

SAQQARA brings to the UDDI initiative its product information management expertise that helps manufacturers and distributors win in e-commerce by transforming ordinary product content into differentiating, e-commerce enabled catalogs that expand their trading partner base, increase sales and lower costs. Additionally, SAQQARA's experience working with registries such as RosettaNet, Si2, and SAQQARA's own registry for electronic component manufacturers, will be directly applicable.

"Industry collaboration around open standards is a key for e-business to evolve to the next generation," said Scott Cosby, Manager of e-business Technologies Marketing, IBM. "IBM welcomes SAQQARA to the UDDI Project and looks forward to working together as we evolve this important Web services standard."

SAQQARA will work with other consortium members to define and promote the UDDI business registry specification that takes advantage of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards as well as early versions of the proposed W3C Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messaging specification. The UDDI specification will be used to develop a centralized business registry that will become a prime business resource for locating and assessing B2B Web services over the Internet. Web service providers are expected to list their services within the registry along with business and technical descriptions of how their services are used and integrated into e-commerce applications. Potential trading partners can then search the registry to discover compatible services that suit their e-commerce application requirements, thereby reducing development time and facilitating time to market.

"As a leader in product content management and supplier of directory solutions, SAQQARA embraces the UDDI standards," said David Spenhoff, vice president of marketing, SAQQARA Systems Inc. "Global e-commerce can only profit and expand by the creation of standards which facilitate communication. UDDI will play an important role in the communications between businesses about their e-commerce capabilities."

A UDDI draft specification was announced in October 2000, and the initial public beta testing of the business registry went live in November. Ariba, IBM, and Microsoft currently share operational responsibility for the globally distributed registry, each providing a hosting server. All servers inter-operate, with registry replication occurring across servers to ensure the information is available on all platforms. As the registry expands other consortium members are expected to providing hosting services.

The UDDI specification and business registry will facilitate the rapid expansion of e-commerce to include all B2B players, and SAQQARA is pleased to have an integral role in this technological initiative that fosters the free exchange of Web services information to revolutionize and promote B2B e-commerce.

About The UDDI Project

The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) Project is a 120 member plus coalition of business and technology leaders committed to the acceleration and broadening of business-to-business integration and commerce on the Internet. For more information on the UDDI Project go to: http://www.uddi.org.

About SAQQARA Systems Inc.

SAQQARA is the leading provider of end-to-end product content software and services for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. With the SAQQARA family of solutions for product content transformation, management and exchange (TME), B2B suppliers can deliver rich product content over the Internet and buyers can quickly and easily find, compare and select the products that best meet their requirements. SAQQARA solutions have been selected by leading companies including 3M, Aeroquip, Agilent, GE and Philips Semiconductors to power their e-commerce initiatives. SAQQARA is a privately held corporation with headquarters in San Jose and European operations based in Paris. For further information about the company and its products, visit http://www.saqqara.com or call 408/325-8200 or toll free 877/964-0100.

(c) 2001 SAQQARA Systems Inc. SAQQARA Commerce Suite, SAQQARA ContentWorks, SAQQARA Cornerstone, SAQQARA ProductServer, SAQQARA SolutionServer, SAQQARA StorefrontServer, SAQQARA PIXServer, and SAQQARA AnalysisServer are trademarks, and Step Search, WhoMakesIt, the SAQQARA name and the SAQQARA logo are registered trademarks of SAQQARA Systems Inc. All other company names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.