Ariba Customers Receive ''Best Practice'' Awards for E-Sourcing Excellence; Alcoa, ExxonMobil, and Owens Corning Recognized as Innovators and Leaders in Driving Bottom-Line Savings

Business Wire, Oct 13, 2004

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Ariba(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:ARBA), the leading Spend Management solutions provider, today announced that five of its customers have been named as "best practice" leaders in e-sourcing by the Boston-based research firm, the Aberdeen Group. The companies were named in a new report titled, "Best Practices in E-sourcing," which highlights the e-sourcing strategies and successes of nine winning companies through detailed case studies demonstrating best practices in electronically enabled sourcing processes.

To better understand the strategies required for e-sourcing success, Aberdeen examined e-sourcing strategies at more than 60 companies, ultimately selecting nine winners that demonstrated outstanding strategic e-sourcing practices. Five of the nine recognized companies are Ariba customers, including Alcoa, ExxonMobil, and Owens Corning.

According to the Aberdeen report, "research strongly suggests that e-sourcing has helped enterprises overcome the challenges that have kept them from successful strategic sourcing, including fragmented processes, poor spend and market intelligence, labor-intensive and time-consuming activities, and inconsistent sourcing skills across the enterprise. E-sourcing dramatically reduces transaction costs, increases market transparency, and instills discipline and consistency into the sourcing process by forcing enterprises to follow detailed specifications and by providing a single platform for standardization and knowledge management."

"Ariba's customers are some of the most innovative and business savvy companies in the world," said Dave McCormick, President, Ariba. "These accolades from Aberdeen are further evidence that our customers are using the latest technology to successfully manage spend and reap saving across their enterprise."

The Aberdeen study also concludes that e-sourcing has become a standard procedure for Fortune 100 companies. Aberdeen reports that e-sourcing technologies go beyond online negotiations to instill process and consistency and knowledge management throughout the enterprise.

To access Aberdeen's report, "Best Practices in E-sourcing, Optimizing and Sustaining Supply Savings," please visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/other/bp-esourcing.asp.> About Ariba, Inc.

Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of Spend Management solutions. Ariba helps companies realize rapid and sustainable bottom-line results. Successful companies around the world in every industry use Ariba Spend Management software and services. Ariba can be contacted in the U.S. at 650-390-1000 or at www.ariba.com.

Ariba and the Ariba logo are registered trademarks of Ariba, Inc. Ariba Spend Management, Ariba Analysis, Ariba Buyer, Ariba Category Management, Ariba Contracts, Ariba Travel & Expense, Ariba Workforce, Ariba Invoice, Ariba eForms, Ariba Enterprise Sourcing, Ariba Supplier Network, BPM Services, Power Sourcing, Total Spend Capture and PO-Flip are trademarks or service marks of Ariba, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 1995: Information and announcements in this release involve Ariba's expectations, beliefs, hopes, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future and are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to Ariba as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to Ariba's operating and financial results to differ materially from its current expectations include, but are not limited to: delays in development or shipment of new versions of Ariba's products and services; lack of market acceptance of Ariba's existing or future products or services; inability to continue to develop competitive new products and services on a timely basis; introduction of new products or services by major competitors; the ability to attract and retain qualified employees; difficulties in assimilating acquired companies; long and unpredictable sales cycles and the deferrals of anticipated orders; declining economic conditions, including a recession; inability to control costs; changes in the company's pricing or compensation policies; inability to successfully manage a reduction in the company's workforce; significant fluctuations in our stock price; the outcome of pending or potential future regulatory or legal proceedings relating to the restatement of our financial statements and the level of associated professional fees and expenses; the impact of acquiring Alliente, Softface and FreeMarkets, including the disruption or loss of customer, business partner, supplier or employee relationships; and the level of costs and expenses incurred by Ariba as a result of such transactions. Factors and risks associated with its business, including a number of the factors and risks described above, are discussed in Ariba's Form 10-Q filed August 13, 2004 and in its Form S-4 filed May 13, 2004.