Ariba Rises on Expanded B2B Alliances

Ariba also revealed a plan to collaborate with professional services company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in the formation of online exchanges for common clients.

The IBM alliance, an expansion of an existing agreement with Ariba, incorporates Ariba products into IBM's WebSphere integration software. WebSphere Internet infrastructure software allows companies to put in place systems for processing transactions, Web publishing and other means of doing business over the Internet.

IBM and Ariba teamed up a year ago to collaborate on B2B e-commerce software and services, which they aim to sell to customers across a broad range of industries. The companies said Tuesday they have "made significant advances in product integration" since the initial agreement.

Last month, IBM said it was ready to begin offering the Ariba Buyer online purchasing system worldwide in the second quarter. The alliance aims to provide mid-sized companies with online procurement systems at prices starting at less than $20,000 per month.

Also Tuesday, Ariba said it is partnering with PwC to provide B2B software to some of their joint customers.

PwC and Ariba said they will develop and market collaborative sourcing services for companies that want to create private online marketplaces, exchanges and trading networks. In addition, PwC will use Ariba software in its worldwide network of technology demonstration centers.

Ariba and PwC have been doing business together since 1999. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.