Ariba/Descartes deliver B2B e-commerce infrastructure and management
Ariba annouces alliance with Descartes to develop commerce network and services
MELBOURNE, 23 June 2000 – Ariba and Descartes have joined hands in an alliance that aims to link buyers, suppliers, and B2B marketplaces on the Ariba Commerce Platform with transportation carriers, shippers and logistics providers connected to the Descartes Global Logistics Network.
Under the agreement, Ariba will deliver a suite of new web-hosted services - called Ariba Logistics and Fulfillment Services, powered by Descartes - through the Ariba Commerce Services Network (Ariba CSN). Descartes' B2B Internet logistics infrastructure will be linked to Ariba CSN, enabling connectivity and logistics network visibility between buyers, suppliers, B2B marketplaces and logistics providers. In addition, Ariba and Descartes are aiming to collaborate to develop future commerce network services that further facilitate B2B e-commerce.
Ariba Logistics and Fulfillment Services, will provide buyers, suppliers, and B2B marketplaces with access to a variety of logistics and fulfillment services that they can integrate into the transaction process. This will include global visibility of order status, exception-based performance monitoring, total shipment cost calculation, delivery optimisation, and Internet-based transportation management. These services are expected to be available to users on a subscription and/or transaction fee basis.
The new web-hosted services will streamline the commerce process for B2B e-commerce organisations. Buyers can improve supply chain efficiencies and lower shipping costs and suppliers can increase customer satisfaction and revenues from B2B commerce. Marketplaces can differentiate themselves from their competitors and increase transaction volumes. Carriers and logistics service providers can serve their customers more effectively and increase their access to buyers, suppliers, and marketplaces.
Competitive e-Commerce market fuels B2B fulfillment needs
According to Gartner Group, the total industry surrounding the B2B e-commerce market – including e-businesses,
B2B exchanges, and enabling software and services providers – could become a $US7.29 trillion industry by 2004.
Local IDC research shows that online trading in the Asia Pacific region is rapidly increasing. While in 1999, less than 10 percent of trades were conducted online, the figure is expected to reach 40 percent by 2004.
About the Descartes Global Logistics Network
The Descartes Global Logistics Network includes Descartes' e-fulfillment information infrastructure and the community
of connected network participants. This information infrastructure provides participants with a point of connection
to one another via the public Internet, virtual private networks and wide area networks, letting them communicate
with one another via XML, EDI, flat files, Web forms and wireless devices.
Once connected, a participant can conduct paperless business transactions with all other network members without having to master and manage individual data translations and integration points,reducing integration costs and improving business model agility.
Participants have full visibility of logistics events across the network, and can use Descartes' enabling software to manage and optimise global logistics flows. In addition, they can tap into a wide array of present and future ervices offered by Descartes and by other network participants.
Participants can use the network for private, semi-private and public business processes, including building their own marketplaces and exchanges on top of the network. Current Global Logistics Network participants include global shippers and logistics providers such as TNT, Exel, Ericsson, Sun, and Foster's, as well as air carriers, ocean carriers and truck carriers.
About Descartes Systems Group
Descartes is a provider of end-to-end logistics solutions that facilitate B2B and B2C e-commerce. Descartes' e-fulfillment
software and exchange solutions enable companies to create fulfillment networks called DeliveryNets. DeliveryNet
solutions allow organisations to deliver customer and create products and services. Descartes products are licensed
today by more than 1,000 companies in 35 vertical industries in over 50 countries worldwide.
About Ariba, Inc.
Ariba, Inc. is a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform provider. Through the Ariba B2B commerce platform
- an open, end-to-end infrastructure of interoperable software solutions and hosted Web-based commerce services
- the company enables online trade, integration and collaboration between B2B marketplaces, buyers, suppliers and
commerce service providers.
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