J.D. Edwards Acquisition Furthers E-Business Strategy

J.D. Edwards & Co. made another business-to-businesselectronic-commerce move yesterday. The enterprise resourceplanning vendor acquired Numetrix Ltd., a Canadian providerof supply-chain planning software that works over the Web,for $80 million in cash.

Privately held Numetrix's product line is designed to helpbusinesses establish supply chains over the Internet. J.D.Edwards plans to integrate the Internet capabilities intoits enterprise application products that link customers,suppliers, and trading partners in collaborative enterprisenetworks. Moving the offerings to the Internet will addreal-time capabilities to connected organizationsimplementing global supply chains, helping companies speedtime to market on products.

The acquisition is yet another precursor to J.D. Edwards'unveiling of its E-business solution, which the company hasscheduled for this week at its user conference. The Numetrixtransaction is expected to close in June.