BuildPoint opens e-commerce marketplace for global construction industry

Singapore, March 10 2000 - BEA Systems,(Nasdaq: BEAS), yesterday announced that BuildPoint Corp., a Silicon Valley based e-commerce hub for the global construction industry, has built an innovative e-commerce marketplace for the procurement of construction materials, equipment and supplies on BEA WebLogic Server.

Launched yesterday, this new Internet-based vertical marketplace follows on the heels of BuildPoint's Web-based bid-management service, which has already created a market in subcontracts for construction projects that totals over $2 billion in value.

Thanks to its Enterprise Java component-based architecture and rigorous support of Java and EJB standards, BEA WebLogic Server enabled BuildPoint to dramatically speed the development and deployment of its new e-commerce solution.

Research firm Gartner Group attributes much of the predicted explosion in B2B e-commerce to companies like BuildPoint, or what it calls "e-market makers" - organizations that establish Internet-based vertical marketplaces.

According to Gartner Group, these Internet market makers will facilitate 37 percent, or $2.71 trillion, of B2B e-commerce transactions by 2004. One of the largest and most fragmented industries in every nation, (and the second largest industry in the U.S.) the construction industry, is ripe for such a Web-based market to exchange information and buy and sell materials, equipment and supplies.

According to 1999 data from the Construction Market Data Group (CMDG), in the U.S. alone, approximately 150,000 large-scale projects begin each year, resulting in 750 million bids.

Since Nov. 1, 1999, BuildPoint has provided the construction industry with its Web-based marketplace solution. In its first 100 days of operation, BuildPoint.com's Project Marketplace had already attracted thousands of estimators, project managers and contractors nationwide to rely on the secure commerce hub to manage their project bidding and procurement activities, lowering project costs and saving time.

Now, having achieved significant momentum in the Project Marketplace, BuildPoint is introducing its second and even more ambitious Internet marketplace solution, the BuildPoint.com Product Marketplace.

First Mover Advantage
"We are relying on BEA WebLogic Server for the most scalable and important part of our business model," said Andre Taube, BuildPoint Vice President of Engineering.

"Having successfully acquired the demand side of the marketplace equation, we are now set to provide the marketplace with the supply side. BEA WebLogic Server will help us continue to reap first mover advantage - an essential key to success in this industry - as well as provide the performance and scalability to handle potentially enormous growth in numbers of users and transactions," he said.

Using BEA WebLogic Server, BuildPoint is delivering its e-commerce marketplace solution for construction materials, equipment and supplies only three months after BuildPoint.com developers began to write code. BuildPoint.com developers used Java Server Pages for the presentation and application workflow layer and EJB for the application logic and database abstraction layer. This new Internet-based marketplace is the first of its kind in the construction industry.

"The project managers, general contractors, subcontractors, estimators, materials and equipment suppliers and others who will use our marketplaces care about two things: performance and functionality - for instance, how fast they can view an RFQ (request for quote) or place an order, and what new features are being added," said Taube.

"The clustering capability of BEA WebLogic Server will help us provide the highest levels of speed and availability and ensure that our service is available no matter how many users access it. And because BEA maintains rigorous support for Java and EJB standards, we also know that down the road we will be able to maintain predictable product development schedules, and therefore be able to provide new functionality in a timely manner," he added.

Besides its benefits of rapid time to market and its high performance, BEA WebLogic Server was selected over several other application servers for its platform-independence, which stems from its strong support for EJBs and other Java standards. BuildPoint.com has a mixed environment of Microsoft Windows NT and Sun Solaris platforms, and wants the flexibility to add new operating environments in the future.

"Net market makers like BuildPoint are turning to BEA because the BEA E-Commerce Transaction Platform is proven, reliable, robust, and highly scalable Julian Quinn, managing director Southeast Asia for BEA Systems.

"Timing is an extremely important competitive issue for BuildPoint, and BEA WebLogic Server can reduce initial time to market and ensure speedy delivery of new applications and enhancements in the future," he added.

BEA WebLogic Server is part of the BEA E-Commerce Transaction Platform, which provides the foundation for building reliable e-commerce systems. In addition to BEAWebLogic Server, BEA WebLogic Enterprise, and BEA Tuxedor - e-commerce transaction servers for rapidly building, deploying, and managing e-commerce applications - the BEA E-Commerce Transaction Platform includes: BEA eLink for integrating new Web applications in real time with back-office systems and with other businesses across the Web; BEA WebLogic Commerce Server, an integrated set of industry standard, out-of-the-box commerce building blocks that provide the time to market and adaptable business logic required for next generation e-commerce systems; and a wide range of education, customer support, and professional services to help small companies and large corporations get e-commerce initiatives off the ground and up on the Web.

About BuildPoint
BuildPoint Corp. is a net market maker for the construction industry where contactors and suppliers meet and transact business online. Included in the BuildPoint suite of tools are two unique marketplaces.

The Project Marketplace features bid management, lead management and directory services to facilitate the matching of business partners for construction projects. The Product Marketplace provides an online negotiation platform for the procurement, sale and exchange of construction materials, equipment and supplies.

BuildPoint.com is the first true e-commerce solution for the construction industry. Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., BuildPoint Corp. is privately held.

About BEA Systems
BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS) is an e-commerce transactions company powering many of the world's most innovative companies that serve the "e-generation," companies such as Amazon.com, Federal Express, E*Trade, United Airlines, DIRECTV, Qwest, Nokia, and Kaiser-Permanente. BEA has more than 50 offices in 24 countries, is headquartered in San Jose, California.