Sun and i2 Technologies are working together to deploy RHYTHM Marketplace Services on the highly available and scalable Sun platforms for private business-to-business eMarketplaces. The companies also intend to collaborate on delivering a variety of public eMarketplace industry solutions. The visions of the two companies are consistent with Sun's mission of dot-comming the enterprise and i2's commitment of enabling intelligent eBusiness.

i2 RHYTHM Marketplace Services on the Sun platforms help companies to optimize their supply chains and to Web-enable their businesses to participate successfully in the rapidly emerging Net Economy. These offerings are available today, for in-house installation or via service providers (SPs), as Sun itself has recently demonstrated by implementing RHYTHM Marketplace Services to set up the first business-to-business private exchange for electronic procurement in its own Microelectronics unit.

RHYTHM Marketplace Services on Sun platforms integrate business trading communities by providing real-time collaboration and a seamless exchange of information, facilitating intelligent decision-making and the optimization of key business processes. Trading communities and exchanges can rely on these industry-leading technologies to enable open access to information among partners, so that buyers can get the lowest costs, while sellers have access to expanded markets.

"We are pleased to partner with a company such as i2 that shares our vision of the service-driven network and commitment to the 'ServiceProvider.com model,'" said Doug Kaewert, vice president, Market Development, Sun Microsystems. "To compete in today's Net Economy, companies must actively participate in supply chain communities that span the globe, linking suppliers and customers. The world is moving from a buy-sell model to a bid-ask trading community. This electronic business optimization can potentially grow to include both private and public trading communities."

"Time-to-market is crucial in today's Internet economy. Developing and implementing a collaborative trading network for an entire supply chain and its customers is a costly undertaking, based upon disparate technologies and complex business process integration. As a result, many companies such as Sun are considering hosted applications or trading community alternatives to facilitate their business-to-business trading processes," said Jeffrey Simpson, executive vice president and general manager of eBusiness Services at i2 Technologies. "Sun is the ideal partner because they are willing to put our technology alliance to the ultimate test of running their Microelectronics unit's supply chain."

Sun's Procurement Process Gets RHYTHM Marketplace Services

i2 Technologies and Sun Microelectronics have completed the first live implementation of RHYTHM Marketplace Services in a hosted environment, for real-time procurement with strategic suppliers. RHYTHM Marketplace Services is being used as part of Sun's initiative to address some of its current business challenges including: fluctuations of forecasted product mix, long product lead times through the supply chain, collaborative planning lead times with suppliers, and balancing inventory turns with customer satisfaction.

"Moving to a Webtone-based business model represents a whole new paradigm on how companies will be managed as we enter into the new millennium. We are pleased to be at the forefront of the shift," said Mel Friedman, Sun's Microelectronics president. "Through dot-comming our business processes, in conjunction with already being a fabless manufacturer of semiconductors, we are further focusing our resources on our core competencies, that is bringing innovative microprocessors to market. RHYTHM Marketplace Services provides us with the ability of connecting our complex supply chain while not having to own, manage or support the underlying application or IT infrastructure."

Together with i2 Technologies, and hosted by Exodus Communications, Sun Microelectronics has succeeded in furthering their commitment to the ASP model for eBusiness solutions. Sun is committing its business to the ASP model as proof that Sun Enterprise servers, Sun StorEdge, and iPlanet product solutions are mission-critical ready. Exodus also supports Sun's portal strategy for StarOffice, Sun's premium office productivity suite which runs native on all major operating environments and platforms including Solaris, Linux, OS/2, Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT, and Java.

"Synchronizing and shrinking the supply chain to be real time, faster, more efficient and cheaper, is what 'e' is all about," says Gilles Belanger, Integrated Supply Chain Practice Leader for Arthur Andersen. "Reduction of cycle times and inventory are at the forefront of supply chain issues. The Internet is taking us to the next wave: from single, silo-structured enterprises to multi-enterprise networks or multi-enterprise collaborative planning. Arthur Andersen is the among the first professional services firms to team with Sun on implementing and producing this electronic marketplace solution, adding more value to the supply chain process."

i2's RHYTHM Marketplace Services for eBusiness Success

i2's Marketplace Services, announced on June 15, 1999, as RHYTHM eXchange Services, are a portfolio of shared services that enable both planning and trading activities among trading partners. The services provide integrated trading community processes for buying, selling, manufacturing, order fulfillment, and product lifecycle management.

Today's eBusinesses typically collaborate on a many-to-many relationship model with dozens of outside vendors and/or suppliers. This model requires a highly complex coordination of technology that impacts each of the companies involved. The associated infrastructure investment may be out of reach for some companies that can benefit from the real-time visibility and rapid time-to-market provided by such systems.

RHYTHM Marketplace Services enable the creation of these sophisticated collaborative networks of suppliers and customers, by facilitating rapid implementation of private and public trading communities in a shared, hosted environment. This solution extends the benefits of intelligent eBusiness solutions to a larger number of companies not currently able to leverage the Internet for collaboration and supply chain optimization.

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