VeriFone, Microsoft and Leading Financial Institutions Provide Secure Internet Payment Solution for Merchants

SAN JOSE, Oct. 30, 1996 — VeriFone Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have brought together leading financial institutions and payment processors to provide merchants with a comprehensive solution for secure Internet retailing and payment. The financial institutions and payment processors – Bank of America, Citibank Card Acceptance Europe, First USA Paymentech, NOVUS Services, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo Bank – will recommend and promote the Microsoft® Merchant Server and VeriFone® vPOS
™
software as the preferred Internet merchant commerce solution.

Announced in August, the combination of Microsoft and VeriFone products is designed to provide merchants with the most complete and easy-to-use solution for Internet selling, and to allow consumers using any Web browser to make purchases on the Internet safely and conveniently. Comprehensive Internet commerce also includes services that provide fast, secure and cost-effective processing of payment transactions. Most financial institutions working with Microsoft and VeriFone plan to use VeriFone vGATE
™
software in addition to VeriFone vPOS software to build the payment infrastructure and offer merchants the payment services needed to expand their online businesses.

“The combination of Microsoft, VeriFone and leading financial institutions and payment processors will accelerate mainstream adoption of Internet commerce, including products, payment, services and security that both merchants and consumers can trust,”
said Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft.
“We are pleased to be working with financial institutions throughout the world to offer complete Internet selling solutions.”

“With leading financial institutions promoting both products and services, online Internet payment processing is expected to be within every merchant’s reach,”
said Hatim A. Tyabji, chairman, president and chief executive officer of VeriFone.
“We will continue to bring leaders in their respective fields together to create a safe and secure environment for electronic commerce.”

The participating financial institutions intend to provide their merchants with an end-to-end Internet retailing solution including Microsoft Merchant Server, VeriFone vPOS software and their own value-added payment services. Microsoft Merchant Server provides detailed user and order tracking, dynamic promotion-based merchandising, flexible product database schema and extensible APIs and store-creation tools.

VeriFone vPOS software, which is included with every copy of Microsoft Merchant Server, provides online merchants with an integrated payment solution designed to facilitate credit card transactions and test Internet payment functionality. Once a merchant is ready to conduct live online transactions, the merchant must have a relationship with one of the participating financial institutions. The merchant’s financial institution will conduct the final step, providing a merchant ID, digital certificates and acquirer-specific vPOS software to complete the connection to the acquirer’s or processor’s vGATE Internet gateway and financial host system.

Financial Institutions, Payment Processors Voice Support for Microsoft and VeriFone Solution

“Our goal is to provide our merchants with a solution for Internet commerce that is secure and easy to use,”
said Sharif Bayyari, executive vice president of Bank of America.
“We are committed to the new and important Internet medium for processing transactions, and see Microsoft’s and VeriFone’s solutions as providing key technology needed to grow this market.”

“European interest in adopting and deploying solutions for the Internet commerce market continues to grow. Merchants have told us they are eager to use the Internet but are concerned about security. Security is a primary concern of Citibank’s as well,”
said Axel Neubohn, head of Citibank Card Acceptance Europe.
“Citibank is an advocate of using SET [Secure Electronic Transaction specifications] for secured customer solutions. We believe Microsoft Merchant Server and VeriFone’s Internet products should provide an excellent foundation for implementing an end-to-end, secure solution. Citibank Card Acceptance Europe plans to pilot services in Germany, where we have substantial merchant business.”

“As the leading processor for non-face-to-face transactions, Paymentech is working to provide a breadth of secure Internet payment solutions to offer our customers,”
said Pamela H. Patsley, president and CEO of First USA Paymentech Inc.
“We believe that the Microsoft and VeriFone products coupled with Paymentech solutions will provide cost-effective, secure solutions for merchants who are launching their Internet storefronts.”

“NOVUS Services is excited to be working with Microsoft and VeriFone to offer our merchants an easy and secure way to accept credit cards for purchases over the Internet,”
said Jane Moy, vice president and general manager of Electronic Commerce for NOVUS Services, a business unit of Dean Witter, Discover & Co.
“Microsoft, VeriFone and NOVUS each provides unique levels of expertise that will help to create an end-to-end solution for electronic commerce so that our merchants and cardmembers can feel confident when doing business over the Internet.”

“We believe that both VeriFone and Microsoft have unparalleled expertise and resources enabling us to deliver Internet commerce solutions that work,”
said Frank Moore, vice president, merchant and point of sale services of Royal Bank of Canada.
“Microsoft and VeriFone’s Internet commerce solution allows more merchants to explore electronic commerce by providing a secure solution that is trusted by both merchants and customers.”

“Wells Fargo is committed to providing merchants with the most effective methods to accept payments and, ultimately, grow their businesses,”
said Debra Rossi, senior vice president of Wells Fargo’s electronic payment solutions.
“We support the endeavors of VeriFone and Microsoft in this arena because their Internet commerce strategy offers merchants a secure, complete and easy-to-install solution.”

Microsoft and VeriFone are committed to working together to advance secure Internet payment technologies based on industry standards. Microsoft was a principal architect of the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) specifications proposed by Visa and MasterCard as an industry standard for secure processing of credit card payments over the Internet. The VeriFone vPOS merchant software and VeriFone vGATE financial institution Internet gateway implement the SET protocol between the merchant and acquirer, assuring that payment transaction processing is secure. Microsoft and VeriFone intend to enhance future versions of their products to support the SET protocol for the consumer, as well as add support for additional payment instruments as they become popular in the market.

Microsoft Merchant Server, with an embedded version of VeriFone vPOS software, is available now. Availability of acquirer-specific vPOS software and payment processing services will be announced separately by the participating financial institutions.

VeriFone Inc. (NYSE
“VFI”
) is the leading global provider of secure payment solutions used to deliver electronic payment services to financial institutions, retail merchants and consumers, as well as government agencies, health-care providers and benefits recipients. The company’s more than 30 facilities – including regional offices, development centers and manufacturing and distribution centers – are located throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Pacific. To date, VeriFone has shipped more than
5 million Transaction Automation systems, which have been installed in 100 countries. The company’s 1995 net revenues totaled $387 million.

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 is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

VeriFone is a registered trademark and vPOS and vGATE are trademarks of VeriFone Inc.

All other products or company names mentioned herein are used for identification only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

For online product information:

Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/siteserver/commerce/

VeriFone: (http://www.verifone.com/)

Bank of America: (http://www.bankamerica.com/)

Citibank Card Acceptance Europe: (http://www.citibank.com/)

First USA Paymentech: (http://www.paymentech.com/)

NOVUS Services: (http://www.novusnet.com/)

Royal Bank of Canada: (http://www.royalbank.com/)

Wells Fargo Bank: (http://www.wellsfargo.com/)

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.

Related Posts