ORLANDO, Fla., May 4, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today enhanced its Internet commerce strategy with four new components. The strategy is designed to help companies and solution developers reduce the cost and development time required to create and manage business-to-consumer and business-to-business Internet commerce sites. The following components have been added to Microsoft’s Internet commerce strategy:
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Site Server, Enterprise Edition. This server and tools foundation commerce-enables the Microsoft® BackOffice
™
family of server products. It is a comprehensive Web site environment for enhancing, deploying and managing commerce-enabled Web sites. -
Microsoft Wallet. This newly released software commerce-enables the
Windows® operating system and Microsoft Internet Explorer. With this client component of the Microsoft open payment architecture, consumers can conveniently and securely make purchases over the Internet. The Microsoft Wallet is scheduled to be included in future versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows. -
Open buying on the Internet standard. Microsoft will simplify Internet-based corporate purchasing – a key aspect of Internet commerce – with support for the proposed open buying on the Internet (OBI) standard.
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Strategy supported by more than 68 companies. American Express Co., KPMG Peat Marwick LLP and SAP AG are a few of the companies worldwide that are building an Internet commerce industry based on Microsoft products. Supporters of Microsoft’s Internet commerce strategy include payment companies, independent software vendors, solution providers and financial institutions.
For more information on the enhanced Microsoft Internet commerce strategy, refer to the white paper “Microsoft Internet Commerce Strategy: A Foundation for Doing Business on the Internet,” available on the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/commerce/.
Site Server, Enterprise Edition, Key Component of Strategy
Site Server, Enterprise Edition, is a comprehensive Web site environment for the enhancement, deployment and advanced management of commerce-enabled Web sites. The product includes Commerce Server version 2.0, the new name for the follow-on release of Microsoft Merchant Server 1.0 that more appropriately reflects its additional business-to-business capabilities. Commerce Server 2.0 is the leading Internet business-to-consumer software adopted by Microsoft Solution Providers worldwide since its availability in December 1996.
“Internet commerce will become a critical part of the majority of corporate Web sites,” said Jim Allchin, senior vice president, personal and business systems group at Microsoft. “As a result, we think it’s essential to provide commerce functionality to customers as an integral component of a comprehensive Web site package for enterprise customers.”
Site Server, Enterprise Edition, simplifies the deployment of custom Internet commerce sites and allows businesses to actively promote and merchandise goods and services to consumers. A beta version of the product is in use by customers as a foundation for business-to-business commerce applications. Planned enhancements to future versions of Site Server, Enterprise Edition, will make it even easier to build business-to-business applications, such as corporate purchasing and supply-chain trading.
“Microsoft’s Internet commerce strategy addresses the fundamental needs of companies that want to build business-to-business commerce solutions,” said Roger King, vice president, sales and marketing at Software Spectrum Inc. “You need a solid and comprehensive commerce environment that supports structured business transactions, flexible order processing, electronic catalog management and integration with existing systems.” Software Spectrum is implementing Site Server, Enterprise Edition, to support customer-specific Web sites and electronic catalogs in a corporate purchasing environment.
Open Payment Architecture Offers Consumers Choice, Convenience and Security
Microsoft is expanding its efforts to support secure, convenient payment for consumers on the Internet. The open payment architecture enables greater choice in the way consumers pay for goods and services online. The architecture is available as part of Site Server, Enterprise Edition, and on the client is Microsoft Wallet, simple-to-use client software available for downloading at http://www.microsoft.com/wallet/ . Microsoft Wallet is planned to ship as part of the next release of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows. It supports multiple payment protocols, including secure electronic transactions (SET) and secure sockets layer (SSL), and allows payment software vendors to plug in Wallet Payment modules.
Leading consumer payment technology companies CyberCash Inc., CyberCharge, DigiCash Inc., GC Tech Inc., GlobeSet Inc. (formerly Interval Inc.), ICVerify Inc., PaylinX Corp., Tellan Software Inc., Trintech Ltd. and VeriFone Inc. have announced support for Microsoft Wallet and plans to deliver Wallet Payment modules. For example, CyberCash has announced plans to release CyberCoin and PayNow payment modules, and CyberCash, GlobeSet, Trintech and VeriFone Inc. have each announced plans to deliver SET solutions using Microsoft Wallet and Microsoft Site Server, Enterprise Edition.
Open Buying on the Internet Standard Simplifies Corporate Purchasing
In an effort to simplify Internet-based corporate purchasing for customers, Microsoft will promote the proposed open buying on the Internet standard. The OBI standard, scheduled to be published later this month, is the product of the Internet Purchasing Roundtable, a consortium of Fortune 500 buying organizations and major industrial suppliers, sponsored by American Express.
“Microsoft’s efforts in business-to-business commerce naturally complement those of American Express,” said Ed Gilligan, president, American Express Corporate Services. “Customers will benefit from a complete solution including Microsoft’s offering of tools and components beneath the commerce site, and Amex’s back-end systems for payment processing, tracking and reporting.”
More Than 68 Industry Leaders Join Microsoft in Building Internet Commerce Solutions
In a broad cross-industry showing, leading independent software companies, Internet service providers, solution developers, banks and financial institutions, and payment software vendors are supporting the Microsoft Internet commerce strategy (a complete list follows this release). Their support provides Microsoft Internet commerce customers the flexibility to combine multiple technologies and services to create complete solutions.
“Microsoft continues to be a leader in the delivery of horizontal online commerce functionality,” said Dr. Peter Zencke, executive board member of SAP AG. “SAP is working closely with Microsoft to simplify integration between Site Server, Enterprise Edition, and R/3 for business-to-business and consumer-to-business commerce sites. Our goal is to make integration of online commerce with R/3 systems nearly an ‘out-of-box’ experience for customers.”
“Microsoft’s Internet commerce offering, including Site Server, Enterprise Edition brings significant value to the market,” said Robin Palmer, partner-in-charge of KPMG’s Electronic Commerce Practice. “We believe the extensibility, flexibility and cost-effective scalability of Site Server, Enterprise Edition, and Windows NT® Server will be beneficial to many of our clients that require electronic commerce solutions.”
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, BackOffice, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors : If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
Companies Supporting Microsoft Internet Commerce Strategy
Payment and security technology companies
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CyberCash Inc.
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CyberCharge
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DigiCash Inc.
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First Virtual Holdings Inc.
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GCTech Inc.
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GO Software Inc.
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GTE CyberTrust
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ICVerify Inc.
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GlobeSet Inc. (formerly Interval Inc.)
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Merchant Technical Services Inc.
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PaylinX Corp.
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RSA Data Security Inc.
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Tellan Software Inc.
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Trintech Inc.
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VeriFone Inc.
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VeriSign Inc.
Independent software companies
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The Baan Co.
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Belarc Inc.
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Calico Technology
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CyberSource Corp.
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Dydacomp Development Corp.
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Elekom Corp.
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EveNTs Software Products Inc.
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Great Plains Software Inc.
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Harbinger Corp.
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Intelisys Electronic Commerce LLC
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Interactive Coupon Network
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LitleNet LLC
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Navision Software
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Net VR Corp.
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PeopleSoft Inc.
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Portland Software Inc.
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Premenos Corp.
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Release Software Corp.
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SAP AG
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SAQQARA Systems Inc.
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Sterling Commerce Inc.
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TanData Corp.
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TAXWARE International Inc.
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Technologies for Growth International
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TSI International Software Ltd.
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Vertex Inc.
Solution providers, systems integrators and hosting Internet service providers
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BBN Planet
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Deloitte & Touche LLP
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DIGEX
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Digital Equipment Corp.
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KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
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MCI Telecommunications Inc.
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NUBIUM Technology Group
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SupplyWorks Inc.
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USWeb Corp.
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UUNET Technologies Inc.
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Xplora Ltd.
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Microsoft Solution Providers worldwide
Banks and financial institutions
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American Express
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Bank America Merchant Services
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Barnett Bank
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Cardservice International Inc.
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E-Comm Solutions
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First Data Corp.
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GZS
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JCB Company Ltd.
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MasterCard International Inc.
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Old Kent Merchant Services
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Royal Bank of Canada
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Societ
à
per i Servizi Bancari SSB SPA -
Sumitomo Credit Service Company Ltd.
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Unified Merchant Services, a FDC/Nations BankVenture
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Visa International
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Wells Fargo Bank
