Business Wire
(Copyright (c) 2000, Business Wire)
SILICON VALLEY, Calif. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 2000--

PartMiner Joins e2open as a Technology Partner, Providing Technology, Industry Content and Hard-to-Find Parts Services

Today, e2open and PartMiner(r), Inc. formed the first partnership between a major industry-sponsored vertical eMarketplace and an independent B2B trading exchange. e2open, the leading collaborative global eMarketplace for the electronics industry, and PartMiner, a provider of content, technology and procurement services to the global electronic components industry, announced that PartMiner will join e2open as a technology partner, contributing transaction technology, a catalog of over 12 million electronic parts, a hard-to-find parts service and market-making capabilities to the eMarketplace.

e2open plans to combine PartMiner's technology, content, and services with offerings from its other technology partners, Ariba, i2 and IBM, to provide customers with a complete supply chain solution. e2open is quickly realizing its vision of linking collaborative design tools with supply chain and open market services, having delivered a functional and comprehensive B2B site in just four months. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, PartMiner will contribute its components catalog and technology, become the exclusive partner for sourcing hard-to-find electronic parts on e2open, and act as the default market maker when supply and demand are unbalanced in the eMarketplace.

"The long term success of industry sponsored eMarketplaces and exchanges depends upon the early delivery of robust ecommerce and complementary supporting services, and the best way to deliver such solutions is to work with leading independent exchanges that already have their infrastructure in place," notes Richard Villars, vice president of internet and eCommerce Strategies at IDC. "The willingness of industry sponsored eMarketplaces like e2open and independent exchanges like PartMiner to weave together content, technology and services will be a critical element in making B2B and eBusiness a reality." e2open's founding partners include Acer, IBM, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Lucent Technologies, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) Industrial, Nortel Networks, Seagate Technology, Solectron and Toshiba. At different levels of the electronics supply chain, these companies drive transactions that account for more than $200 billion of goods and services bought and sold.

"This partnership is proof that the technology we have developed and successfully introduced to individuals is now applicable at the enterprise level," said Dan Nissanoff, CEO of PartMiner. "The speed at which our partnership was formed demonstrates the importance of this union, as well as e2open's ability to act quickly. This is the winning B2B model."

Specifically, e2open will use PartMiner's technology and the world's largest catalog of electronic component information to enable engineers and purchasing managers to research, source and buy products online. e2open can integrate PartMiner's component catalog into other e2open offerings provided by third-party companies. This arrangement is made possible by PartMiner's patent-pending business model, which does not rely on membership or transaction fees, but on the provision of market-making services.

"PartMiner delivers content and technology to e2open, which augments our existing technology platform and value proposition," said Mark Holman, president and CEO of e2open. "Partnering with PartMiner allows us to integrate our complementary capabilities, helping us ensure that we have the most robust content and comprehensive service capabilities in this industry."

About PartMiner

PartMiner, Inc. provides marketplace technology and procurement services to the global electronic components industry. The company's online marketplace, the Electronic Commerce Free Trade Zone(tm), located at www.freetradezone.com, allows buyers and sellers to communicate and interact more effectively. Currently, thousands of users have registered to research and source electronic components online with PartMiner's existing procurement software. The company's investors include Agile Software, Boston Ventures, Broadview Capital Partners, Cahners Business Information, Generation Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs, Information Handling Services Group, Impact Ventures Partners, Integral Capital Partners, Onex Ventures, Seacoast Capital and Vulcan Securities Limited. PartMiner is headquartered in New York City at 432 Park Avenue South, 12 Floor with offices in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. Additional information about PartMiner and the company's excess service, the Excess Trade Zone, are available at www.partminer.com and www.excesstradezone.com.

PartMiner is a registered trademark of PartMiner, Inc. Electronic Commerce Free Trade Zone, and Free Trade Zone are trademarks of PartMiner, Inc. There is a patent pending on the Free Trade Zone business model. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in news releases are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements.

About e2open

e2open is the leading collaborative eMarketplace for the electronics industry with a focus on enabling the effective collaboration for design, supply chain, manufacturing, procurement and end-of-life management for high technology products. e2open was formed by industry leaders such as Acer, Hitachi, IBM, LG Electronics, Lucent Technologies, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Nortel Networks, Seagate Technology, Solectron and Toshiba, as well as the prominent venture capital firms Crosspoint Venture Partners and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, to develop an exchange for the electronics industry based upon industry standards. e2open's basic services are open for use by any person or business; access to certain services may require the execution of a membership agreement. To find out more about e2open and explore career opportunities, please visit our website at www.e2open.com.