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VENDOR'S CIRCLE OF EXCHANGES AND MARKETPLACES FUELS E-BUSINESS BOOM

Commerce One Inc. took shape when Mark Hoffman drew a circle on a whiteboard.

Hoffman is best known for cofounding Sybase Inc. in 1984 and helping the company grow into one of the leading database software vendors, with revenue of more than $1 billion. He resigned in 1996 when Sybase hit a rough financial period, and a few months later became president and CEO of DistriVision Development Corp., a little-known, 2-year-old, privately owned supply-chain software company founded by Tom Gonzales Sr., and Tom Gonzales Jr.

Hoffman, who was given a 3.5% stake in DistriVision, wanted to take the company in a new direction, one that he was able to express in a simple fashion-with a circle on a whiteboard. "I'll never forget it. He said, `I really think there's an opportunity here,'" recalls Mike Micucci, VP of product marketing.

Hoffman's idea was to use DistriVision's supply-chain software to move the procurement process to the Web, linking buyers and sellers to a circle of exchanges and marketplaces that would automate, simplify, and speed business-to-business transactions.

Thus was born Commerce One, one of the leading providers of Web business-to-business technology platforms and among the vendors fueling the boom in E-commerce marketplaces and exchanges. "Business-to-business is a huge market, and we're seeing incredible demand out there," Hoffman says. "There's no question that the economy is going to exchanges. In the long term, the. market will reward the companies that can make E-commerce happen."

Commerce One, which on April 19 reported $35 million in quarterly revenue, up 1,564% from the year-ago quarter, is riding the crest of a wave it helped to create. Gartner Group predicts that $7.3 trillion in worldwide transactions will be conducted via various forms of E-commerce in 2004. While most of those will happen directly between suppliers and custowers, the IT advisory firm expects that $2.7 trillion worth of transactions will take place...

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