Renamed MarketMile takes new road

MarketMile, an electronic marketplace for business supplies, said Tuesday that it has changed its name to and plans to focus the software side of its business in order to compete more directly with Ariba, Commerce One, Oracle and others. The company was founded in 2000 by American Express, which owns more than 40 percent of the firm, and business-to-business start-up Ventro, now known as Nexprise.

Ketera is moving to become a business applications company at a particularly difficult time. Business software makers Ariba and Commerce One have experienced a severe drop in revenue and have undergone several rounds of layoffs and restructuring over the last year or so. Even Oracle, SAP and other companies selling a more diverse selection of applications have found that demand for their products has fallen this year.