Also

Ariba Inc., which makes software for companies to buy and sell goods over the Internet, said it will buy closely held competitor SupplierMarket.com for $581 million in stock, gaining access to that company’s online auctions for manufactured materials. Mountain View, Calif.-based Ariba will pay 6.3 million shares of stock, valued about $581 million at Monday’s closing price, for Burlington, Mass.-based SupplierMarket.com, which hosts online auctions that allow companies to bid for, and offer, parts and supplies over the Internet. Ariba shares rose $3.63 to close at $92.19 on Nasdaq.

*

MicroStrategy Inc., a maker of data-delivery software whose stock tumbled after the company revised revenue figures, plans to release the next version of its data-analysis software today. The program, called MicroStrategy 7, will help companies analyze large amounts of information, MicroStrategy said. Its shares rose $4.63, or 14%, to close at $38.25 on Nasdaq..

*

From steel to seafood, the U.S. market for businesses buying and selling goods from each other on the Internet is expected to mushroom from $336 million to $6 trillion by 2005, Jupiter Communications Inc. said in a study. In five years, Internet trade will represent about 42% of all product buying and selling among businesses, compared with 3% today, according to Jupiter.

*

Fremont-based communications products maker Network Peripherals Inc. warned of lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue because of problems with one of its software products. The company said it expects second-quarter sales to be less than $1 million versus analysts’ forecasts of about $5.6 million.