Ariba, Blue Martini to Give E-Commerce Fresh Taste

E-commerce software provider Blue
Martini Software
Tuesday will partner with fellow e-commerce powerhouse
Ariba Inc. to link manufacturers and
distributors to marketplaces and buyers.


Ariba will license its Marketplace Adapter, currently
only deployed on Ariba’s® B2B Commerce Platform, for the Blue Martini
Customer Interaction System to address a supplier’s need to promote and
provide comprehensive product information for its offerings to B2B
marketplaces and buyers.


Financial details were not disclosed.


But how does this deal enhance the quality experience for Blue Martinis’
and Aribas’ users, if at all?


Cindy Elkins, senior director of supplier and content solutions for Ariba,
said suppliers will now be able to provide a highly personalized experience
within the marketplace environment.


“The integration enables suppliers to use the Blue Martini offering to
extend their brands to new channels such as multiple online B2B
marketplaces in a highly differentiated manner,” Elkins said.


Paul Rosenbloom, vice president of marketing for Blue Martini, said in a conference call Tuesday thatlicensing Ariba’s adapter will provide customers with a vast assortment of content personalization choices.


Rosenbloom also noted that his firm was minding AMR Research’s estimate that B2B e-commerce will balloon to $5.7 trillion over the next few years and that Blue Martini would attempt to offer its clients every possible capability it could for setting up an e-business.


Ariba further said suppliers using the Ariba Commerce Services Network
(Ariba CSN) to locate and transact with buyers are seeking to differentiate
their offerings while maintaining the buyer-friendly environment of these
networks.


Suppliers will be able to use the Ariba Marketplace adapter from Blue
Martini to publish the content of their catalogs to multiple Ariba-enabled
marketplaces using the Ariba CSN.

A supplier using the adapter can also utilize Ariba’s Commerce XML-based
punchout capabilities to link a customer to a Blue Martini-powered Web site
outside of the marketplace for access to targeted content. The customer is
then able to link back to the marketplace via the in-house buy-side
application to complete the transaction.

The partnership between the two firms has been extended as Blue Martini has
joined a supplier and partner initiative led by Ariba and designed to enable
an end-to-end communication and collaboration between corporate buyers, B2B
marketplaces and suppliers
on the Internet.


The Ariba Marketplace Adapter is scheduled for general availability in
winter of 2000. Pricing will be announced upon availability.

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