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Microsoft and uBid Announce Strategic Alliance To Create Enhanced User Experience With .NET and MSN

Time: 09:57 EST/14:57 GMT | News Source: Microsoft Press Release | Posted By: Byron Hinson

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq "MSFT") and uBid, a leading online auction and e-commerce marketplace and majority-owned operating company of CMGI Inc. (Nasdaq "CMGI"), today announced a broad-based alliance that will create an enhanced user experience for the companies' shared customers via Microsoft� .NET and the MSN� network of Internet services. Highlights of the agreement include the following:

Naming uBid as the premier provider of content and products for the MSN Auctions Channel, due for launch in early December
uBid's adoption of several key .NET technologies including .NET Passport, Microsoft's popular single-sign-in authentication service, and .NET Alerts, which makes it easy for individuals to receive relevant information from Web sites, such as auction bid updates, any time, anywhere and on any device
Deployment of the Microsoft .NET Enterprise Servers to run uBid's popular Web site and services, providing uBid with the world's leading server platform for running XML-based Web services
Integration of uBid with the Microsoft bCentral (TM) small-business service called Commerce Manager, which provides uBid users with an even greater selection of products to choose from, while giving bCentral Commerce Manager customers another avenue to sell their products. bCentral is the leading Internet resource for Web-based business tools and applications for small businesses and offers an easy-to-use suite of services, based on the .NET Platform, specifically designed to help small companies better manage their everyday business processes