Sun, i2 to collaborate on software offering

Siobhan Kennedy

NEW YORK: Network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. and

business-to-business software firm i2 Technologies Inc. on Wednesday announced a

multimillion dollar alliance to integrate i2's customer facing software on Sun's

hardware platforms.

The companies said they would work together to develop, market and co-sell

i2's existing customer-relationship management software - which helps businesses

better manage their relationships with customers - on Sun's Web application

platform, software which runs applications over the Web.

They said the combined offering, which will be developed in tandem with

iPlanet, a venture of Sun and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Netscape, would be

available later this year. According to the vice president of business

development and strategy for i2's CRM business unit, Bill Bowers, the move is

part of i2's new focus on front office, customer-facing software and away from

business-to-business online exchanges.

"In 2000 we focused on public marketplaces, but in 2001 we feel that,

due to economic conditions, while it's still important to have those

applications, we have to be able to differentiate ourselves further," Bower

said. "Therefore we're coming out with a CRM solution will that will help

us do that."

i2, the NO. 1 maker of software that helps businesses share their inventory

and purchasing data with suppliers over the Web, was quick to jump on the B-to-B

exchange bandwagon last year, when companies like Commerce One Inc. and Ariba

Inc. were seeing their share price go through the roof.

But B-t-B exchanges, which promised to save companies millions by connecting

them with their buyers and suppliers over the Web, did not take off as quickly

as expected and companies like i2, Commerce One and Ariba, have seen their share

price plummet as a result.

Other partners to follow



Bowers, in New York City for i2's eDay analyst conference which kicks off
Wednesday, said the deal with Sun marked the first time i2 agreed to integrate

its applications with another company's Web application server.

"Traditionally our CRM solutions used our own application server,"

he said. But he stressed this was not an exclusive deal with Sun and iPlanet and

said that i2 would also seek other application server partners, most notably

with Sun's rival International Business Machines Corp.

Bowers said there were no plans to work with BEA Systems Inc., the other

leading application server company. As well as working to integrate its CRM

software on Sun's hardware, Bowers said i2 would also work to integrate its

software with Netscape's customer billing software.

Although i2 and Sun's prepared statement alluded to new, jointly developed

products down the road, Bowers said there were no plans at present. "We are

evaluating new products together, but at this point we have identified no

specific areas," he said. By midday, shares of i2 were off 31 cents, or

1.38 per cent, at $22.05, in brisk trading on the Nasdaq. Sun shares were down

40 cents, or about 2 per cent, at $19.46.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.