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OrderFusion Signs a Co-Marketing Agreement With B2B-Matrix; Relationship to Increase Company's Presence With Auto Industry Suppliers

4 December 2000

OrderFusion Signs a Co-Marketing Agreement With B2B-Matrix; Relationship to Increase Company's Presence With Auto Industry Suppliers 
    SAN DIEGO, Dec. 4 OrderFusion, Inc., a pioneer in
e-commerce solutions for supplier enablement, today announced that it has
entered into a co-marketing agreement with B2B-Matrix.
    B2B-Matrix, who targets the automotive aftermarket, is the developer of
Boardwalk(TM), a distributed infrastructure for synchronous/asynchronous
ad hoc collaboration within and across enterprises, addressing a crucial gap
that is complementary to customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise
resource planning (ERP) and B2B exchange systems.  Boardwalk can take
advantage of existing transactional systems, supply chain systems and B2B
marketplaces and extend their capabilities to support enterprise and
inter-enterprise collaboration.
    "We see this relationship as being very instrumental for positioning
OrderFusion for the $160 billion aftermarket for automotive parts," said Tom
Hennings, president and CEO of OrderFusion.  "Today, auto suppliers rely on
their dealer customers such as Ford, General Motors, Chrysler etc. for their
aftermarket parts sales strategy since they have a better grasp of the demand
based on the history.  These same suppliers would have to build an
infrastructure that rivals that of the dealer channel to effectively
participate in this business.  However, B2B marketplaces are now forcing the
auto suppliers to explore new sales channels due to shrinking margins and
initiatives to cut costs from the supply chain."
    In addition to the automotive suppliers, there has also been a shift in
the buying patterns of the dealers, distributors and wholesalers.  These
individuals do not want to stock and are looking to be able to order on
demand, track the order and check on delivery schedule.
    "We believe that our relationship with OrderFusion will enable us to
provide auto suppliers the ability to gain a strong competitive edge," said
Hiren Shah, president of B2B-Matrix.  "In the aftermarket business, the
supplier and distributor relationship is one in which many distributors and
resellers interact with that supplier.  In this situation, the supplier needs
to maintain a storefront from where distributors can place orders.  They also
require an order management system for selection of the proper part, a process
that involves cataloging, warehousing and distributing more than 200 million
parts for about 700 different vehicle platforms.  A robust and flexible system
such as Orders of Magnitude is the answer."
    OrderFusion's Orders of Magnitude supports the entire selling process on
the Web, from the presentation of product information, to sales, order
management, support and sales analysis.  It features nine modules built around
a Unified Data Model that helps suppliers and buyers through the sales process
by providing accurate and consistent information throughout.  Additionally, it
complements enterprise applications, such as enterprise resource planning
(ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and content management systems
(CMS) by focusing on the entire sales order.  The platform also allows
suppliers to create personalized marketing campaigns for up-selling and
cross-selling, as well as analyze wins and losses to fine-tune their sales and
marketing strategies.

    About B2B-Matrix
    Located in San Jose, Calif. and Southfield, Mich., B2B-Matrix designs,
architects and deploys new generation collaboration systems for enterprise and
B2B collaboration.  The company's world class solution Boardwalk is brought to
you by a combination of three inherent characteristics: world class people,
technology and experience.  Its team consists of people who have extensive
experience in designing, architecting and deploying industry leading
collaboration systems for B2B commerce and enterprise collaboration.  For
additional details about B2B-Matrix and its solutions, visit
http://www.b2b-matrix.com.

    About OrderFusion
    OrderFusion, headquartered in San Diego, Calif., is a pioneer in commerce
solutions for supplier enablement.  The company uniquely looks at the commerce
challenge from the supplier's central reference -- the sales order -- to
deliver the first complete B2B sell-side commerce platform, from pre-sales
marketing to sales transactions, order management, fulfillment, and post-sales
analysis.  Through the award-winning Orders of Magnitude platform, OrderFusion
provides manufacturers and distributors with a unified solution for achieving
the same B2B Internet selling success as large manufacturers with
made-to-order commerce systems.  For more information, contact
http://www.orderfusion.com.

    All company or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks
of their respective owners.