Colorado Springs, Colo.-based NxTrend Technology signed an agreement to sell to BuildNet Inc. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., an e-business, technology and project management systems provider for the home-building industry. NxTrend will retain its name and remain in Colorado Springs; it will be a wholly owned subsidiary of BuildNet.

NxTrend offers supply-chain management solutions to suppliers, dealers and wholesale distributors in the building material, industrial, electrical, plumbing and HVAC industries.

"As a result of this merger, NxTrend plans to stay committed to all of these industry verticals as it develops added solutions and functionality," said Nathan Morton, BuildNet's chief executive officer.

With the recent acquisitions of UniLink, KeyPrestige and now NxTrend, whose broad customer base BuildNet intends to data map to its other supply-chain management divisions and to its home-builder user base, BuildNet should be able to extend seamless, single-platform e-business functionality all the way from manufacturer to home builder. Builders using any of BuildNet's seven project management software systems should not have to leave its system to buy many of the products needed to construct a house.

"Our goal at NxTrend has always been to offer our customers a complete solution for end-to-end supply-chain integration," said Mike Cornell, NxTrend president and chief executive officer. "Enabling our various industry customers with seamless connectivity to their trading partners across the supply chain is one critical component for staying competitive in 2000 and beyond. This is the goal of the BuildNet-NxTrend alliance."