Ketera Takes Hold of Mid-Market With New Suppliers

Santa Clara, Calif. - April 20, 2005 - Ketera (www.ketera.com), the leading provider of on demand spend management solutions, today announced new members to the Ketera Supplier Network, the most extensive supplier network available supporting hosted procurement and spend management services. The network is comprised of suppliers that offer everything from MRO to IT software and hardware, office supplies, books and contingent labor. The new members of the Ketera Supplier Network include Barnes & Noble Books, OfficeMax, CDW, Newark Electronics and En Pointe Solutions.

The Ketera Supplier Network, with a directory of more than 650,000 suppliers, allows customers from all sizes of enterprises to access the suppliers they need to leverage competitive contracts for direct and indirect purchases.  When customers use the Ketera Supplier Network to identify and engage new suppliers, as well as integrate purchasing processes with their existing providers, they do so faster and in a more cost effective way than with other supplier networks.

"Often times, companies, especially in the mid-market, don't have time or the clout to negotiate competitive supplier contracts," said Steve Savignano, CEO of Ketera.  "This program is a win-win on both sides.  Our customers are able to reap the best deals on material purchases while leveraging our procurement solution to streamline the entire process.  On the flip side, our suppliers are able to utilize Ketera as a high-traffic channel for additional revenue opportunities."

By leveraging the Supplier Network and Ketera's procurement solution, customers create a consistent and efficient process to purchase, approve, manage and track expense reports and purchase orders.  Ketera's additional solutions, including spend analysis, contract management and content management, also foster a more robust and streamlined purchase-to-pay process.

"Supplier enablement is a vital component of e-procurement success," said Tim A. Minahan, senior vice president of Supply Research and Strategy at the Aberdeen Group, Inc.  "Enterprises using supplier enablement and network services have been able to engage more suppliers faster and at a lower cost than those managing these activities in-house.  More importantly, supplier enablement helps drive improved adoption of procurement and more spend under management of the procurement organization."

In addition to new Ketera suppliers, the company has had long-standing, strategic partnerships with IBM (www.ibm.com) and American Express (www.americanexpress.com).  For more information on the Ketera Sourcing Partner program, please visit www.ketera.com or email: partner-info@ketera.com.

About Ketera
Ketera is the leading provider of on demand spend management solutions, providing companies with the applications and services needed to control and reduce corporate spending at a low cost of ownership.

Ketera Spend Management includes applications for spend analysis, sourcing, procurement and payment and reconciliation.  The Ketera difference is our on demand delivery model, which combines hosted spend management applications with the "heavy lifting" services required for success, including supplier enablement, hardware infrastructure, project resources, system administration and solution upgrades.

Ketera is an IBM business partner, providing technology for IBM Leveraged Procurement Services, an e-Business On Demand offering.  Located in Santa Clara, Calif., Ketera is a private company founded by American Express.  Other investors in the company include Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and Foundation Capital.  For more information about Ketera Technologies and the Ketera Spend Management suite of services, please visit www.ketera.com.