China Entercom and GXS Partner to Launch B2B e-Commerce Hub for China Automotive Industry

BEIJING & GAITHERSBURG, Md.--March 13, 2006--GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with China Enterprise Communications Limited (China Entercom), a well-recognized company in China. Together, the two companies are launching China e-Auto Hub, a B2B e-commerce solution for more than 8,000 companies in China's rapidly expanding automotive sector. China e-Auto Hub will enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), parts and raw materials suppliers, automotive dealers, aftermarket retailers and third party logistics providers in China's automotive community to quickly and easily exchange information related to design specifications, production planning and materials management in electronic format.

The new e-Auto Hub will provide China's automotive community with a secure and customized B2B e-commerce platform for the entire global trading partner community. Medium and small-sized suppliers will benefit from a turnkey B2B e-commerce solution which will provide seamless integration with business partners, thus improving supplier-manufacturer relations and increasing customer satisfaction.

Through the China Entercom - GXS partnership, automotive manufacturers, as well as other local and international supply chain corporations can connect to e-Auto Hub directly from their ERP systems or an integration broker. E-Auto Hub will offer transaction delivery of electronic documents, such as electronic orders, shipping notices and billing notes in industry standard formats, including ANSI EDI, EDIFACT, VDA and XML. Small and medium-sized businesses can connect to e-Auto Hub using Web-based forms, a desktop translator or other easy to deploy integration technology. A full lifecycle of support services, including community ramping, implementation, technical and change management will be available through the partnership.

"The rapid growth of China's automotive sector is attracting substantial investments from OEMs and suppliers around the world. The long-term winners in China's automotive market will be those who master the use of technologies, such as B2B e-Commerce, for competitive advantage," said Thilo Koslowski, research vice president at Gartner, Inc. "Multi-national corporations active in the China automotive market should consider leveraging an 'integration as a service' model to reduce time to market for supply chain integration."

The China e-Auto Hub will interoperate with GXS Trading Grid(SM) for B2B transactions with trading partners outside of China. The GXS Trading Grid is a unique global integration platform that helps customers automate global trading communities by shielding complexity from rapidly-changing standards, eliminating manual and duplicative efforts, thus enabling a new level of process integration and business intelligence. As the world's largest electronic business community, the GXS Trading Grid will provide a key advantage to China's growing import and export automotive trade. Chinese manufacturers of parts and vehicles for export will now be able to quickly share information electronically with buyers around the world, including those in North America, Europe and Japan. Importers of raw materials and automotive parts will be able to receive information electronically from suppliers around the world including those in Brazil, Australia and Southeast Asia.

"With our combined experience and local market presence, GXS and China Entercom have deployed a leading, global B2B e-commerce integration solution and a reliable, streamlined data transmission platform that enables us to effectively manage our customers' interactions with trading partners in China, and around the globe," said Cheng Mingguang, vice president, China Entercom. "China Entercom has worked with GXS for years to set up China e-Auto Hub which was endorsed in 2005 by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China as the first B2B e-commerce platform in the automotive sector. We are pleased to bring the first B2B e-commerce platform to the Chinese automotive sector and are confident of its ability to bring the Chinese automotive industry to the next level of supply chain automation and globalization."

With more than 35 years of automotive industry experience, GXS delivers standards-based supply chain solutions and services that enable a company - regardless of its size, location or technical sophistication - to become "demand-driven". GXS hosts one of the largest B2B networks in the world, supporting an unmatched automotive customer base that includes the top 25 global automotive OEMs, more than 70 per cent of the Tier 1 suppliers and more than 6,000 Tier 2-n suppliers.

"The automotive market in China is experiencing unprecedented growth, and is now is the second largest market in the world. For automotive leaders to sustain these rapid growth rates within China, and to continue their growing prominence in international markets, Chinese manufacturers will need to embrace best practices in supply chain management and B2B e-commerce," said Bobby Patrick, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at GXS. "The partnership with China Entercom will accelerate electronic trade between Chinese OEMs and their partners, and boost their competitive position in the global automotive market. For GXS, China Entercom is a prime partner with a trusted name and a history of success in this market. Together, we will build a solid B2B e-commerce-enablement resource to provide globalization and automation of supply chain process for the Chinese automotive industry."

GXS offers localized sales, consulting and technical support throughout North America, South America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific. Chinese automotive manufacturers and suppliers that rely on GXS to power their demand-driven supply chains include BSteel, Ford China, DongFeng Peugeot Citreon Automobile Limited (DPCA), TianHai Electric and Crown Motors Ltd. GXS customers in China are serviced through GXS offices in Shanghai and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. In addition, GXS operates data centers in Europe, Hong Kong and the United States.

Professor Chai Yue Ting, a member of the Advisory Committee for State Informization and an expert of e-commerce at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China Central Government, commented, "Automation of supply chain process is critical to improve Chinese companies' efficiency and to increase competitiveness when companies move towards globalization, one of the government's key initiatives to grow the local companies. We are pleased to see the strategic partnership between China Entercom and GXS to help local auto suppliers to streamline the supply chain that is in line with the government's policy. China e-Auto Hub is the first e-commerce project in the automotive industry which has been approved and funding by NDRC in 2005."

About China Entercom

China Enterprise Network Communications (China Entercom) is a government-approved telecom value-added services provider. Its owners include China International Trust and Investment Group (CITIC), Information Center of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration committee of the State Council (SASAC), and some other investors. China Entercom is running a telecom value-added service platform with clients currently comprising government, logistics companies and securities firms. China Entercom has an excellent management team. The management team comprises senior level managers from the telco and finance industries. The Company has a large customer base of logistics companies, and has great understanding of and connections in the automobile industry.

With its information and communications technologies (ICT) and focus on corporation data communication services, China Entercom integrates market requests and the most mature technologies on the market to provide network application, value-added information service, and e-commerce services to corporate customers. It offers a range of network access, virtual private network services, network management and integrated e-commerce services. It operates a B2B data exchange platform, specifically for OEMs in mainland China's automotive industry, both domestic and global.

The firm has B2B initiatives in the auto industry and is headquartered in Beijing, China. For more information visit www.chinaentercom.com.cn.

About GXS

GXS is a leading worldwide provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration. Organizations worldwide, including over half of the Fortune 500, leverage the GXS Trading Grid(SM) to achieve the perfect balance of supply and demand. Active in the global standards arena, GXS enables customers both large and small, to connect with global partners, synchronize product information, optimize inventory levels and demand forecasts, and accelerate the execution of supply chains.

Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., GXS provides sales and support to businesses and their partners worldwide. For more information visit our Web site at www.gxs.com.