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To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (124438)	5/2/2001 9:36:57 AM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

>Or were the new economy boys right all along? The new economy boys were never wrong. They just got carried away during the bubble. Now, we are all playing on a level field. So, lets have fun and enjoy this rally. Btw No current shorts, and even leaving the sluts alone. Trust me. Oh! quite bitching about ITWO. It's up too.;-)

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (124438)	5/2/2001 3:10:10 PM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - Business-to-business software company i2 Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:ITWO) on Wednesday said it promoted Greg Brady to chief executive officer, replacing company founder Sanjiv Sidhu. Brady, who has been the company's president since 1994, previously worked for Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL), the world's second-largest software maker, and J.D. Edwards & Co. (NASDAQ:JDEC), a maker of enterprise and supply chain management software. I2, which makes software that helps companies manage their inventory and purchasing data, is the second business-to-business software vendor to change its CEO this week. On Monday, Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ:ARBA), which makes software that powers online B2B exchanges, named Larry Mueller as its chief executive, replacing the company's founder, Keith Krach. "On the surface, it looks like a very competitive market, when one guy jumps, the other guy follows," said Richard Williams, an analyst with Jeffries & Company Inc. But Sanjiv Sidhu denied the move was in any way prompted by Ariba's. "The board of i2 has been grooming Greg as my successor for quite some time now," Sidhu said on a conference call with analysts. "It's not a sudden move." I2's share's were up 12.83 percent, or $2.27 to $20.05 in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. One-time Wall Street darlings, both i2 and Ariba have recently reported quarterly earnings below analyst expectations as pressure from the flagging U.S economy and a slowdown in information technology spending continue to take their toll on the once high-flying B2B software sector. Brent Thill, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston said the move made a lot of sense. "If anyone can get it done, this is the guy," Thill said, referring to Brady's appointment. "He's been with the company for seven years and he's been responsible for setting the long-term strategy." Thill said he considered Sidhu "the brains" behind the operation, but added that Brady was the guy "who's been able to execute and make i2 hum." Sidhu will continue as chairman, assist in Brady's transition and consult with him on long-term strategy, i2 said. DEPENDENCE ON BIG DEALS I2, which also cut 10 percent of its work force earlier this month, was the first of the leading business-to-business software firms to warn it would miss analyst expectations for the current quarter, followed quickly by Ariba and Commerce One Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRC) Since i2 shares began their dive in March 2000, the company's stock has lost 83 percent of its value and has underperformed its peers comprising the Standard & Poor's software index by 65 percent. Analysts said they were concerned about i2's dependence on large, multimillion-dollar deals -- last quarter's average deal size was about $1.8 million. With the economy slowing, those deals will be the first to get frozen, analysts said. "The question is how i2 is going to get the sales force around the new way customers are buying," Thill said. Customers are still committing to i2's software, Thill said, but, "they're not going to be buying the whole buffet up front, they're going to buy it in slices." Brady admitted that i2 was seeing a slow down in the number of big deals on account of the economy. "People are taking on a pilot project rather than biting off a big project," he said. But Brady said the change in spending patterns would be advantageous to i2 in the long term. "It's clearly a challenge on a short-term shift in our model," Brady said. "But at the end of the day, we're going to make more money that way than taking it all up front." As part of that transition, Brady said i2 would announce a series of promotions and new hires in the next couple of weeks. He also said the company would work to better align its marketing organization with its engineering, sales and development teams. "Product marketing will become a core competency of this company that will make a big difference to us," Brady said. "Historically, we've always been a very product-oriented company."