Patrick Corman
Corman Communications
(650) 326-9648
patrick@cormancom.com

Netfish and Novell Team Up in B2B Arena

Integrated B2B Solutions, Joint Marketing and Sales, Equity Stake Highlight Strategic Partnership to Deliver Premier B2B Platform for Trading Communities

Designed to help trading partners save millions of dollars a year and gain a competitive advantage by operating with the cost-effectiveness of a single virtual enterprise, the Netfish-Novell B2B solutions will combine Netfish’s unique XDI transaction, messaging and process integration infrastructure for B2B applications with Novell’s iChain extranet access management system for digital communities, which is built upon their NDS eDirectory, a cross-platform directory powerful enough to handle the demands of the Internet. The combined technologies will form the industry’s first B2B network-oriented application platform for delivering collaborative solutions for supply chain management, logistics coordination, customer relationship management and product development.

The Netfish XDI™ system makes it easier for separate business entities, such as members of a supply chain, to unify their incompatible ERP systems and automate workflow processes transparently and securely over the Internet. Novell’s iChain system enables them to share their data, including authorization and access control information, enabling them to work together securely across their respective firewalls. The two companies expect their first integrated solution to be available this summer. The products will be jointly sold by the respective sales organizations.

"We are thrilled by this ringing endorsement of our B2B technology and product strategy by Novell, and are excited by the tremendous opportunities this partnership creates for both companies in this rapidly growing market," said Ravi Iyer, Netfish CEO. "Through our joint efforts, we intend to make it easier for businesses everywhere to benefit from secure B2B process integration."

"Netfish has taken a leadership position in integrating trading communities through its advanced workflow technology coupled with its XML process integration architecture," said Carl Ledbetter, senior vice president of business and corporate development at Novell. "With the marriage of our best-of-breed B2B and network directory technologies, our partnership is a clear signal of our intention to be the leaders in this market, creating an exciting new B2B platform that makes e-business more simple and secure for any sized organization."

The Gartner Group estimates that the B2B e-commerce market will top $7 trillion by 2004. Forrester Research estimates that by 2004, 53 percent of these transactions will occur through process hubs (eHubs) like those made possible by the Netfish XDI eProcess Platform.

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL) is a leading provider of Net services software that delivers services to secure and power all types of networks -- the Internet, intranets and extranets; wired to wireless; corporate and public -- across leading operating systems. Novell's Net services software provides the foundation for one Net -- a single global network that supports new applications and forms of business. Net services software gives IT organizations a way to adapt and accelerate their transformation to eBusiness, simplify the management and control of all networks, create a secure foundation for doing business on the Net, and help deliver a consistent and high-quality experience to end users in all locations. Worldwide channel, consulting, education and technical support programs, along with strategic alliances, combine Novell Net services software with third-party products and services to form complete Net solutions.

For information on Novell's complete range of products and services, contact Novell's Customer Response Center at (888) 321-4CRC (4272), or visit Novell's Web site at http://www.novell.com. Press may access Novell announcements and company information on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com/pressroom. In addition, detailed comparisons between Novell products and competitive offerings from other vendors are available on the Web at http://www.novell.com/advantage.

Netfish Technologies is a leading provider of XML-based business-to-business e-commerce solutions. The world’s top Internet-enabled companies such as Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems use the highly scalable advanced technology from Netfish for enabling B2B e-commerce with their customers, suppliers and partners. Netfish was selected as one of the "Top 4 Most Innovative Solutions" by Oracle. Founded in 1997, Netfish is based in Santa Clara, CA. Netfish is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.netfish.com or via email at info@netfish.com.

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Netfish Technologies and XDI eProcess™ are trademarks, and XDI is a registered trademark of Netfish Technologies, Inc.