BELL CANADA CHOOSES BCE EMERGIS - Creates largest B2B e-commerce market
place in Canada
MONTREAL, Dec 21 /CNW/ - BCE today announced that Bell Canada, BCE
Emergis (TSE: IFM) and Ariba, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA), have signed a long-term
agreement in which BCE Emergis will provide Bell Canada and its subsidiaries
with a fully-managed business-to-business corporate exchange marketplace and
e-procurement solution.
Bell Canada, one of the largest buyers in Canada, will be the first
enterprise to benefit from the buying and selling solution offered by BCE
Emergis through its partnership with California-based Ariba. The agreement
provides a fully-managed Internet-based market place, with Ariba(R)
business-to-business e-commerce platforms, that will be initially used by
Bell Canada and all its suppliers across Canada.
``Bell Canada alone makes more than $4 billion in purchases annually and
that number increases considerably when you take into account the transactions
made by our various subsidiaries,' said Jean Monty, President and CEO of BCE
Inc. and Chairman and CEO of Bell Canada. ``This first agreement with Bell
Canada will enable BCE Emergis to position itself at the forefront of the
electronic marketplace and e-procurement business in Canada. Over time, Bell
Canada will connect up to 7,000 suppliers to its marketplace with potential
cost savings of 10 to 15 percent of the overall value of our purchases'.
``The buying power of Bell Canada should give the Bell Canada electronic
marketplace the critical mass and network effect needed to drive broad
adoption of B2B e-commerce throughout Canada with Bell Canada at the
epicenter,' said Keith Krach, President and CEO at Ariba. ``Because it is
managed by Canada's leading expert in e-commerce and powered by the industry's
only best-in-breed B2B e-commerce platform, participants in the Bell Canada
marketplace will benefit from the most interoperable, robust e-commerce
infrastructure available. We look forward to expanding these offerings with
BCE Emergis on a global scale.'
``Getting Bell Canada to participate is a great way to launch BCE Emergis
in the rapidly growing B2B marketplaces and e-procurement solutions market,'
said Brian Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Emergis.
``There is tremendous interest and activity in this area and we will enable
additional e-procurement solutions and marketplaces for many other large
corporations. BCE Emergis would expect that every major financial institution
in Canada will be establishing electronic marketplaces for small and medium
businesses and we believe that they will find this solution very attractive'.
Electronic marketplaces, also called net markets or corporate exchanges,
are sites on the public Internet that bring together groups of buyers and
suppliers to create larger, more efficient markets with greater buying power.
E-procurement is the adoption of Web-enabled processes which assist an
organization and its employees in the procurement of goods and services. BCE
Emergis will provide buyers and suppliers throughout North America with a
fully-managed business-to-business corporate exchange marketplace and
e-procurement solution powered by Ariba. The BCE Emergis solution can be fully
integrated into ERP/CRM systems of buyers and sellers.
Bell Canada provides a full range of communications services to
customers, including wired and wireless local and long distance telephone
services, Internet access, high-speed data services and directories. Bell
Canada, its telecom partners and subsidiaries provide services through
13.6 million access lines, including 11 million in Ontario and Qu‚bec. Bell
Canada also serves more than 2.3 million wireless customers through Bell
Mobility. Bell Canada is 80% owned by BCE Inc. of Montr‚al and 20% owned by
SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas. Bell Canada's Internet Web
site is located at bell.ca. News releases, speeches and background
information are in the Newsroom. Our e-mail address is forum@bell.ca.
Ariba, Inc. is a leading provider of business-to-business eCommerce
services and solutions. The company delivers an open, end-to-end,
best-of-breed platform of interoperable solutions to manage corporate
purchasing on the Internet, build net markets, and provide suppliers with
buyer access and integration. Together, Ariba's software and services leverage
the Internet-based Ariba Network to integrate the internal and external
commerce processes of buyers, suppliers, net markets and commerce service
providers. The result is a global eCommerce infrastructure that provides cost
saving and revenue opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Ariba can be
contacted in the U.S. at 1 (650) 930-6200 or at www.ariba.com.
BCE Emergis delivers network-centric e-commerce business solutions that
improve customer processes through the exchange of secure transactions.
Combining e-commerce services, network infrastructure, security services, and
payment solutions through industry vertical applications, BCE Emergis offers a
full suite of core technologies that are the essential building blocks for
electronic commerce. BCE Emergis, is among the top electronic commerce
providers in North America and is listed on the TSE 300 Composite Index. For
more information, please refer to www.emergis.com.
For further information: Anne Belliveau, BCE Emergis, General Manager,
Public Affairs & Communications, (514) 868-2232, abelliveau@emergis.com;
Jean-Charles Robillard, BCE/Bell Canada, Associate Director, Corporate
Communications, (514) 786-3908, Jeancharles.robillard@bell.ca; Katy Rogers,
Ariba, Blanc & Otus PR for Ariba, (415) 912-2330, Krogers@blancandotus.com |
