8 November 2004 — webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM), a leading business integration software company, and GXS, a leading global integration services provider, today announced a broad strategic partnership to jointly resell, develop and market end-to-end business integration solutions. In a move that could reshape the Business-to-Business Integration market, the agreement will allow businesses to seamlessly collaborate with all of their vendors and partners, regardless of size or geography, improving operating efficiencies and customer service.

Central to the strategic partnership will be the combination of webMethods Fabric, a leading suite of business integration software, with the GXS Trading Grid®, a leading global service platform that allows efficient collaboration and information sharing between organisations and external trading partners. Under today’s announcement:

• webMethods Fabric software will now be used to power the GXS Trading Grid, which serves over 30,000 customers worldwide.
• GXS will leverage webMethods Smart Services™ to rapidly deploy new intelligence and application services to Trading Grid customers, including services such as business activity monitoring and collaboritive forecasting.
• GXS will expand its managed services portfolio to include fully-outsourced webMethods-based hosting options within its global data centres on the GXS Trading Grid.
• GXS Trading Grid will become the preferred solution for webMethods customers to better integrate with vendors and partners globally.
• webMethods will make GXS’ product information management solution, Product Information Manager, a preferred option within webMethods Fabric, and will resell GXS’ translation engine, Application Integrator.

Both companies will conduct joint sales and marketing globally, providing customers with single points of contact for their entire integration needs. webMethods and GXS will also collaborate to deliver industry-specific solutions, such as price and promotion synchronisation and RFID in the retail market, and managed RosettaNet enablement solutions for the high-tech community. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

"Our partnership with webMethods will usher in a new era of B2B e-commerce solutions," said Gary Greenfield, GXS president and CEO. “The powerful combination of GXS and webMethods’ individual solutions provides customers with unmatched capabilities that will allow better integration of information and systems with all of their supply chain partners, no matter the size. We will now be able to offer customers a unique strategic approach to integration; an approach that not only streamlines operations to reduce costs, but helps customers increase fulfilment and sales."

“The world’s premier partner enablement service, GXS Trading Grid, will now be powered by webMethods Fabric,” said David Mitchell, president and CEO of webMethods. “And this strategic relationship will provide a tremendous opportunity to extend webMethods Fabric and Smart Services to our combined set of customers. Together, GXS and webMethods will offer differentiated and robust integration solutions that competitors simply can’t match.”

“I like what I see in this partnership because it brings together the best of both worlds, GXS’ Trading Grid strength in B2B services with webMethods’ compelling EAI platform,” said Greg Park, Trading Partner Implementations manager, Coca-Cola Customer Business Solutions. “We are looking forward to the enhanced business process and collaboritive capabilities this partnership will bring to Coke and our trading community.”

webMethods and GXS will be showcasing the new partnership and solutions this week at webMethods Integration World 2004, being held November 8-10 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, Ca. The worldwide user conference allows more than 1,200 webMethods customers a chance to gather to maximise their insight and know-how of business integration to improve operational efficiency, corporate agility, and competitiveness.

About webMethods, Inc.
webMethods (Nasdaq: WEBM) provides business integration software to integrate, assemble and optimise available IT assets to drive business process productivity. webMethods delivers an innovative, enterprise-class business integration platform that incorporates proven integration technology with next generation capabilities into one interoperable set of tools that delivers a unique combination of efficiency, agility and control. webMethods combines industry leadership with a zealous commitment to customers to deliver tangible business value to more than 1,200 global customers. webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan. More information about webMethods can be found at www.webMethods.com.

About GXS
GXS is a leading global provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration. Organisations worldwide, including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, leverage GXS Trading Grid® to achieve balance between supply and demand. Active in the global standards arena, GXS solutions enable customers both large and small, to connect with global partners, synchronise product information, optimise 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 about GXS visit www.gxs.co.uk.