Ananova :

IBM has announced it is to help eBay rebuild its giant web auctions portal.

The dotcom will use IBM's WebSphere software to handle all internet transactions, as part of a major overhaul.

IBM says the deal is a real coup, amid fierce competition with rival vendors BEA Systems, Sun, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.

IBM president and chief operating officer, Samuel J. Palmisano, said he was "ecstatic" that eBay, a company whose entire business depends on the reliability of its website, had selected IBM software.

"We won the deal on the technical merits. We build bulletproof systems."

eBay say the overhaul - the first since 1997 - is necessary to enable it to meet ambitious targets.

The company plans to be in a position to host $40 billion in merchandise sales in the next four to five years.

As part of the deal the two companies agreed to explore joint marketing opportunities. Further details were not released.

Story filed: 09:33 Thursday 6th September 2001

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