Event Summary
Commerce
One. Inc. (NASDAQ: CMRC) has shiny new models of its major products. Both enterprise
and ASP models are available.
On
the buyer side, Commerce One BuySitetm 6.0, in both its Enterprise and Portal
Editions, offer a variety of new features. Among these is smooth integration
of dynamic pricing. A buyer can use a wizard to create various forms of RFQ
(request for quotation) and reverse auction. The new version also includes support
for multiple languages and currencies within a single firm or transaction. This
is a step forward from the previous version where separate systems were required
to support multinational companies.
On
the sell-side, Commerce One showed its Commerce One MarketSite Portal Solution
3.0, which is used by Internet market makers and individual enterprises to build
open business-to-business marketplaces. The product also includes dynamic pricing
capabilities, and additionally offers new features for catalog management and
order management. The product also comes with advertising capabilities. Such
marketplaces can be linked to Commerce One's Global Trading Web, which links
regional and vertical marketplaces built with the MarketSite Portal Solution.
These marketplaces are managed by independent market makers such as TD Bank
of Canada and Cable and Wireless Optus in Australia. Commerce One itself manages
the U.S. market, Commerce One MarketSitetm Global Trading Portal, which has
been relaunched in a version built upon the new Portal Solution 3.0.
Market
Impact
This
is a strong set of offerings that should bring Commerce One some much needed
notice. Despite its impressive stock valuation (approximately twice Ariba's
relative to revenue) is has been perceived as a not-too-close runner up. This
smooth new packaging should dispel that perception. Worthy of particular notice
is the integration of dynamic pricing, resulting from the November, 1999 purchase
of CommerceBid. This shows that Commerce One can convert strategic decisions
into product quickly and effectively.
User
Recommendations
If the industry were to freeze right now, or if your company has to make an
immediate decision on which product to buy, Commerce One's new offerings will
certainly improve its competitive score. If it was not on your short list you
will want to reconsider.
In the slightly longer range it seems inconceivable that Ariba will not have
a similar announcement or announcement freeze before too long. They, too, want
to put you in the drivers' seat. So for product selection, Commerce One's new
features are unlikely to tip many product selections definitively. But, if Ariba
is on the top of your list, this will give you additional negotiating leverage.
Contrariwise, if Commerce One is, or becomes, your number one choice, you can
rely on the expectations of Ariba's future releases to help you haggle.