University of Oxford Selects SciQuest Eprocurement Solution to Bring Purchasing Practices Online

CARY, North Carolina, December 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- SciQuest Continues Rapid Worldwide Growth and Market Leadership among 
Research-Intensive Industries with 100th Customer Signing

SciQuest, Inc., the global leader in helping academic and
research-centric organizations realize the potential of strategic
procurement, today announced that the University of Oxford has selected
SciQuest's eprocurement solution, citing the company's market leadership in
higher education and seamless integration with Oracle as key factors in their
decision. Several hundred people -- including academics, researchers and
administrators -- across 180 departments at Oxford will benefit from faster
access to preferred goods and services through eprocurement, including an
online private marketplace provided by SciQuest.

"SciQuest's size and financial stability, as well as its commitment to
research and development made SciQuest the preferred choice," said Mark
Bowen, director of purchasing, University of Oxford. "The company has some of
the world's leading higher education institutions using its solution, which
was an important differentiator that, combined with SciQuest's product
offering and commitment to customer service, confirmed our belief that we'd
be getting the best value from our investment."

SciQuest's successful partnership with Oracle also played a key role in
its selection. SciQuest's Spend Director module -- a supplier enablement,
catalog management and shopping platform -- will manage the front-end online
shopping experience. Users simply login to SciQuest, browse the electronic
marketplace of preferred suppliers and select the items they want to buy, all
in an intuitive, Web-based shopping environment. The order is then seamlessly
passed to the Oracle platform, which handles the transactional back-end
activities.

SciQuest's Order Manager module will also be used to automate and
streamline purchase order placement, tracking and management. It will enable
Oxford to securely distribute orders electronically to a large proportion of
its suppliers through a single integration point. The entire purchasing
process is transparent to end users -- a key advantage to SciQuest's
integration with Oracle that will ensure high adoption of the eprocurement
system.

According to Bowen, the ultimate benefits of eprocurement will be the
enormous process-efficiencies gained by eliminating laborious paper-driven
activities, better management of suppliers, cost reduction, faster delivery
of goods and services, and the creation of an all-around better buying
experience.

"The signing of the University of Oxford, our 100th customer, validates
our market leadership in research-intensive industries and our flexible
approach to procurement automation," said Stephen Wiehe, president and CEO of
SciQuest. "Our goal is to provide customers with the solution they need to
deploy eprocurement within the context of their changing business and
resource requirements, whether it's a total end-to-end system or to enhance
existing ERP systems."

About SciQuest

SciQuest is the global leader in helping academic and research-centric
organizations realize the potential of strategic procurement. The company's
specialized knowledge, on-demand software, and services-first approach
empower more than 100 of the best-known academic, pharmaceutical,
biotechnology and research organizations to manage spend, drive ROI, and
advance their critical missions.

SciQuest's strategic procurement solutions are strengthened by a deep
understanding of the higher education and research environments combined with
a broad supplier network for everything from lab equipment to office supplies
to services. The company's intuitive, online shopping experience and diverse
supplier offerings are proven to increase user and contract adoption. Through
software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment, organizations can quickly implement
the right eprocurement solution, whether it's a robust shopping platform for
existing eprocurement tools or to fully enable all aspects of purchasing from
sourcing to settlement.

For more information about SciQuest, please visit www.sciquest.com or
call +1-877-710-0413 in the U.S. or +44-179-434-1182 in Europe.

Trademarks contained herein remain the property of their respective
owners.

SciQuest media contact:
    Ken Phillips
    Davies Murphy Group
    +1-781-418-2437
    kphillips@daviesmurphy.com



Web site: http://www.sciquest.com