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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (154653)	3/7/2000 12:00:00 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Kemble, Re: WebMethods and Dell. FYI! :)Leigh cbs.marketwatch.com "Merrick: Dell (DELL: news, msgs), for example, has chosen us as their vehicle to bring into their business-to-business trading networks. We've been out there putting in place real business-to-business solutions for SAP (SAP: news, msgs), Ariba (ARBA: news, msgs) and others." IPO First Words Company WebMethods We Talked To ... CEO Phillip Merrick IPO Date Feb. 11 Underwriter Morgan Stanley Offering Price 35 Stock High 336 1/4 Stock Low 189 Last Update: 11:43 AM ET Mar 7, 2000 WebMethods Profile: Fairfax, Va.-based WebMethods (WEBM: news, msgs) sells infrastructure software and services for business-to-business integration. Notable: WebMethods rang up the No. 4 first-day gain for an IPO on its debut, rising 508 percent over its $35 offering price. It's working closely with Dell on linking the computer maker more closely to its customers. CBS.MW: WebMethods had a huge run-up on your first day. Did you expect it? Merrick: We got a very strong vote of confidence. We expected a good reception and to see this kind of backing of the company, but what we didn't expect to see was such a large part of that happen so dramatically on the first day. CBS.MW: You've held on to a lot of the gains, too. Merrick: It wasn't folks that said, "I'll make a quick few dollars and then move out." We're seeing long-term focus based on the strength of our company. WebMethods has been providing e-commerce marketplace solutions for two years. While others were talking about it, we've been doing it. CBS.MW: You must have had a strong reaction on your road show. Merrick: What they liked was the strong story we were able to tell on what we're actually doing. A lot of companies talk about being enablers for business to business, but we've been enabling companies for two to three years. That caught everybody's attention. Today on CBS MarketWatch Nasdaq crests 5,000; Dow plummets Deutsche Bank, Dresdner in advanced talks P&G warning weighs on shares, Dow Crude cracks past $33 U.K. ISPs unveil free services More top stories... CBS MarketWatch Columns Updated: 03/07/2000 10:38:44 AM ET CBS.MW: Did your customer base also draw interest? Merrick: Dell (DELL: news, msgs), for example, has chosen us as their vehicle to bring into their business-to-business trading networks. We've been out there putting in place real business-to-business solutions for SAP (SAP: news, msgs), Ariba (ARBA: news, msgs) and others. CBS.MW: Could you walk us through a scenario on what you've been working on with a customer? Merrick: Eastman Chemical -- they're building out a business-to-business training network to tie their suppliers and customers together. What that means is linking their system with equivalent systems at Eastman (EMN: news, msgs) to exchange documents and get access to inventory levels and production schedules. When you get to achieve that kind of close collaboration between trading partners, you get a lot of benefits. Customers are replacing inventory with information. Within 30 days of turning on the system, they had cut inventory levels by 10 percent. With those kind of gains, there's a very clear proposition for deploying value. CBS.MW: Where was you client base a year ago vs. today in terms of its scope and size? Merrick: We had about 25 to 30 customers last year. Now we have 125 customers. These are mostly Global 2000 companies. CBS.MW: Tell us more about your relation ship with Dell? Merrick: Dell has a position in WebMethods. They became an investor after they became a customer. We're providing business-to-business trading network technology and support for the direct business that links Dell directly to the procurement systems of their customers. CBS.MW: Did you work directly with Michael Dell? Merrick: I had a number of phone conversations with Michael. I'm meeting with him (this week). We'll find quite a bit to talk about. Business-to-Business Direct is a program Michael has a personal interest in. CBS.MW: Any thoughts on turning profitable? Merrick: The company is not currently profitable, although there is a clear path to profitability. CBS.MW: Will demand for your work diminish over time as companies get their own business-to-business exchanges up and running? Merrick: We're providing a fundamental part of the infrastructure. We don't see demand going away. It'll only increase as these trading networks grow. There are so many companies that can benefit from this software. Right now we're focused on the Global 2000: They're the most focused on the business-to-business opportunity. There's a lot of activity that we've just begun to tap. Whereas a lot of the activity and announcements are around independent business-to-business exchanges being set up, we'll see more announcements on where companies are moving to set up their own exchange networks, such as the move by Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler to team up to build an industry exchange. Steve Gelsi is a reporter for CBS MarketWatch.