FreeMarkets, a B2B marketplace technology provider, announced that it will acquire privately held Adexa Inc., a provider of collaborative commerce solutions. "We believe that the combination of FreeMarkets and Adexa will provide the first end-to-end e-commerce solution for direct materials," said FreeMarkets' Chairman and CEO Glen Meakem. "The combined company will offer customers the ability to identify, select and collaborate with trading partners in their own private marketplaces, with exchanges, or through the FreeMarkets B2B Global Marketplace." According to a recent report by Forrester Research, purchasing executives plan to buy almost 50% of their direct materials online by 2002.