Services Announcement April 17, 2001

IBM Interchange Services for e- Includes a New Engine for Exchanging Documents

Overview Key Prerequisites At a Glance Internet standards and protocols are Access to the public Internet is evolving rapidly — making required. IBM enhances IBM Interchange business-to-business (B2B) Services for e-business with a new document routing via the Web a Client requirement (must have one commerce engine, Internet data realistic, cost-effective option for of the following): and document exchange. The companies large and small around Internet data and document • S/MIME enabled e-mail client the world. The Internet data and exchange commerce engine is (Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 document exchange commerce designed to provide a broad, tested and supported) engine is designed to provide an cost-effective way for companies affordable document exchange to exchange documents with • CommerceNet solution by utilizing the Internet and trading partners by utilizing the open standards. The : Internet and open standards. This http://www.commerce.net component provides users with a: • Provides with the certified SMTP EDI over the ability to rapidly enable • Managed service based on Internet (EDIINT) client (Cyclone Internet-based trading Internet transport protocols Interchange is recommended) communities • Reliable service on which to • Helps enable companies to • Cyclone Interchange for HTTP/S build Internet-based trading expand and strengthen their transport communities business relationships by bridging • Bridge between the gap between traditional EDI legacy/value-added networks and the Internet Availability Date (VANs) and new Internet Through the managed Internet data April 17, 2001 environments and document exchange service, • Competitive, subscription-based companies can quickly implement pricing electronic business relationships with customers and suppliers who • Support for multiple data may be utilizing a variety of formats, including XML transport protocols. Plus, Internet data and document exchange can position an to quickly adapt as open Internet standards evolve and are adopted by industry and business partners. This ability to rapidly conform to changing messaging requirements of buyers and suppliers can, in turn, open new doors of business opportunity.

This announcement is provided for your information only. For additional information, contact your IBM representative, call 800-IBM-4YOU, or visit the IBM home page at: http://www.ibm.com.

IBM United States IBM is a registered trademark of Machines . 601-014 mailboxing or connectivity. Internet data and document Description exchange offers subscription plans for companies of all sizes, including “lite”, for the smaller business, and The Internet data and document exchange commerce community-based pricing options. engine is an IBM-managed service for exchanging documents with trading partners. A first The broad benefits of Internet data and document registers and establishes a profile on the service. IBM exchange can be realized by companies establishing or enabling services will then link the customer to their expanding current electronic commerce (EC) solutions. requested trading partners. This process includes As well, this commerce engine has the potential of registration, authentication, creation of a trading profile, providing the Internet transport infrastructure required to and exchange of certificates. Using Internet data and be e-marketplaces. Internet data and document exchange document exchange, an organization only has to manage and the Interchange Services portfolio provide broad the relationship with IBM, as opposed to managing reach to a large number of trading partners enabling individual relationships with every trading partner. This rapid implementation of business relationships with commerce engine is designed to enable companies to customers and suppliers of all capabilities. offer several communication options to their trading partners through the support of HTTP/S, SMTP, EDIINT, Trademarks and SMTP S/MIME. Microsoft is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other company, product, and service names may be Supporting multiple Internet transport protocols and client trademarks or service marks of others. options, Internet data and document exchange helps provide for the rapid enablement of Internet-based trading communities. This commerce engine also facilitates the evolution of EDI to the Internet by creating a bridge between traditional VAN-enabled EDI trading partners and trading partners who are Internet-enabled. Internet data and document exchange helps enable business to take place between the two environments, while providing a migration path for traditional, VAN-enabled trading partners. Internet data and document exchange offers even greater value as an Internet access point to the portfolio of other components of IBM Interchange Services for e-business. In the initial release, this commerce engine will connect to the Information Exchange commerce engine (another component of IBM Interchange Services for e-business) and interconnect to other VANs. The transport protocols supported by the service are focused around open standards and standards defined for Internet interoperability. Supporting open standards removes the restrictions inherent with proprietary clients, providing customers with many transport options. In its initial release, Internet data and document exchange will support SMTP EDIINT, which is one of the most widely accepted standards for Internet interoperability. IBM has partnered with Cyclone Commerce, and Cyclone Interchange is the preferred client option to the service. Cyclone Interchange provides customers with additional benefits including non-repudiation, compression, document tracking, and enhanced profile and certificate . Partnering with Cyclone Commerce will help ensure that the Internet data and document exchange service will support emerging open standards in the future. Cyclone Commerce is currently participating in the certification process for HTTP EDIINT and actively supporting the RNIF (RosettaNet Implementation Framework) version 2.0 effort. While Internet data and document exchange handles traditional ANSI X12 and EDIFACT data formats, it also provides intelligent support for the most prevalent XML formats. This includes parsing and routing of documents complying with the cXML, xCBL, RosettaNet, BizTalk, and ICE XML standards. Given routing instructions, this commerce engine can process other XML formats and proprietary formats as well. This flexibility can make Internet data and document exchange an excellent solution for any set of applications or trading relationships. Based on Internet transport protocols and a subscription-based pricing model, this service is designed to be a cost-effective solution — virtually eliminating add-on charges for peak, off-peak, interconnectivity,

601-014 -2- IBM US Announcement Supplemental Information

April 17, 2001

Publications

A user′s guide in PDF format will be available for download from the IBM Interchange Services for e-business Web site: http://www.ibm.com/services/interchange

Technical Information

Call 877-ECOM-IBM (326-6426) 24 hours a day, seven days a week for help desk support.

Prices

Contact an IBM Global Services marketing representative at 800-IBM-CALL (426-2255) for pricing information.

Customer Financing

IBM Global Financing offers attractive financing to credit-qualified commercial and government customers and Business Partners in more than 40 countries around the world. IBM Global Financing is provided by the IBM Credit Corporation in the United States. Offerings, rates, terms, and availability may vary by country. Contact your local IBM Global Financing organization. Country are listed on the Web at: http://www.financing.ibm.com

This announcement is provided for your information only. For additional information, contact your IBM representative, call 800-IBM-4YOU, or visit the IBM home page at: http://www.ibm.com.

IBM United States IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. 601-014