webMethods Strengthens Leadership in Defining Business Process Integration in the High Tech Industry

Partner Press Release
webMethods Strengthens Leadership in Defining Business Process Integration in the High Tech Industry

webMethods Authors White Paper on Advantages of New RosettaNet Implementation Framework

For Release May 15, 2001

FAIRFAX --

webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM), the leading provider of integration software, today announced the availability of a white paper discussing the advantages of the new RosettaNet Implementation Framework (RNIF 2.0). The paper was co-authored by webMethods technical experts Prasad Yendluri, principal architect, Product Strategy, and Mitch Shue, director of Basis Technology.

In the past, both Yendluri and Shue have served as principal architects with RosettaNet. Yendluri has been involved with RosettaNet from its inception, acting as co-author of RNIF 1.1. Most recently, he served as the Lead Architect for RNIF 2.0 specification while on loan to RosettaNet from webMethods. Mitch Shue served as the Chief Technical Architect at RosettaNet for the past year, spearheading the development of key standards components included in RNIF 2.0.

RNIF 2.0 describes the fundamental infrastructure required to connect trading partners in an open, interoperable and secure manner. The white paper simplifies the complexities of the RNIF 2.0 specification to provide an overview of key benefits. It discusses the progression of technical standards convergence, which is an on-going initiative for RosettaNet as the consortium works to standardize inter-application procedures for the information technology, electronic components and semiconductor manufacturing segments. The white paper is available on webMethods site at www.webmethods.com, and it can also be found on RosettaNet's Web site.

"As one of the early members of RosettaNet, webMethods has contributed significantly to the tremendous progress made by the organization over the years," said Jennifer Hamilton, CEO of RosettaNet. "webMethods' technical expertise, coupled with its commitment to promoting RosettaNet standards, helps to build momentum within key areas of the industry."

"webMethods has a long history of working with RosettaNet," said Kimberly Trudel, vice president of industry products for webMethods. "Today, more than 40 companies such as Compaq, HP, NEC and Motorola have licensed webMethods' RosettaNet solution. This has been an incredibly successful relationship-a relationship we will continue to foster."

Key technical highlights of RNIF 2.0 as described in the white paper include:

A transport-independent message format based on widely accepted MIME and S/MIME standards
Support for the SMTP Internet protocol in addition to HTTP/HTTPS to take advantage of e-mail servers as a possible message handling vehicle
Support for encryption and digital signatures using a standard S/MIME based mechanism
Formal support for attachments (important in exchange of documents in other formats like PDF for design blueprints, etc.)
Support for registry driven requests, which is an important step in RosettaNet's recently announced support of for the UDDI Universal Business Registry

About RosettaNet
RosettaNet is an independent, non-profit consortium dedicated to the collaborative development and rapid deployment of open Internet-based business standards that align processes within the global high-technology trading network.

More than 400 companies representing over $1 trillion in annual Information Technology, Electronic Components and Semiconductor Manufacturing revenues currently participate in RosettaNet's standards development, strategy and implementation activities. A complete list of partner companies and more information on RosettaNet can be found at www.rosettanet.org.

About webMethods, Inc.
webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq:WEBM) is the leading provider of integration software. The webMethods integration platform allows customers to achieve quantifiable R.O.I. by linking business processes, enterprise and legacy applications, databases and workflows both within and across enterprises. By deploying the webMethods integration platform, customers reduce costs, create new revenue opportunities, strengthen relationships with customers, substantially increase supply chain efficiencies and streamline internal business processes.

Founded in 1996, webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. webMethods has more than 625 customers worldwide including Global 2000 leaders such as Citibank, Dell, Eastman Chemical, The Ford Motor Company, Grainger, Motorola and Starbucks. webMethods' strategic partners include Accenture, Ariba, BroadVision, Commerce One, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, Hewlett-Packard, i2 Technologies, J.D. Edwards, KPMG Consulting, Microsoft, Oracle Corp., SAP AG and Siebel Systems. More information about the company can be found at www.webMethods.com.

webMethods is a registered trademark of webMethods, Inc. All other company and product names are property of their respective owners.

This press release contains various remarks about the future expectations, plans and prospects of webMethods that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The actual results of webMethods may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of webMethods' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000, as amended, and Form S-3, both of which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.