September 07, 1999 07:23
eConnect Reports First Ever Usage of a Transaction Server Using Linux, a Major Milestone Achieved In Development of SafeTpay System for "Same-As-Cash" Purchases and Bill Payments Over the Internet
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 1999--eConnect (OTC:BB:ECNC), a fully reporting company, today announced that its SafeTpay business unit has successfully completed tests for key portions of its system for making "Same-As-Cash" payments over the Internet using ATM cards and bank assigned PINs.
eConnect will use the system to provide transaction processing services to Internet merchants beginning this fall. A potential revenue stream of $20,000,000 in 2000 is estimated from merchant fees generated from the processing of SafeTpay transactions.
SafeTpay offers Internet users the ability to purchase or pay with cash. SafeTpay will provide Internet consumers with simple inexpensive ePINs(TM) equipment that will enable home ATM card with PIN usage. One of the first live tests of SafeTpay will be performed at econnectauction.com, an Internet sports memorabila auction site owned and operated by eConnect.
eConnect will be offering the ePIN to its 15,000 registered users to purchase with either a Same-as-Cash transaction or an enhanced credit card transaction. After a successful trial, SafeTpay will be broadly marketed to other Internet merchants, and similar auction sites, such as eBay(Nasdaq:EBAY). eConnect will generate a fee per transaction as paid by the Internet merchant.
Usage of SafeTpay offers the Internet merchant the option of either receiving a Same-As-Cash payment by ATM card and PIN or enhanced credit card transactions with a lower charge rate to the Internet merchant. A SafeTpay transaction will also offer Internet consumers a safer method of credit card payment.
SafeTpay will use a Linux-based Internet transaction server, connected to regional ATM networks though a Tandem-based transaction processor. This is believed to be the first implementation of such a transaction server using Linux, and the first integration of such a Linux system to a Tandem back-end.
Tandem, recently bought by Compaq (NYSE:CPQ), is the most popular type of computer for mission-critical on-line transaction processing application such as banking, reservation systems, and credit card and ATM card systems. Linux is a shareware operating system experiencing phenomenal growth for Internet and other applications, due to promotion by Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT) and others.
"Our system contains three software modules, with one to reside at the merchant's Internet site, one at the consumers browser, and one being our server. During late August, we provided private demonstrations of the consumer and merchant portions of the system to potential business partners and investors.
"Their reaction was very positive. The demonstrations showed how our software module, working with the Internet Explorer browser from Microsoft, would enable a typical consumer to make a purchase over the Internet using their ATM card. We are now preparing to test and demonstrate the server, which will act as a Gateway for SafeTpay transactions. Once that is done, we will be ready to process live transactions," stated an eConnect spokesperson.
Experts estimate that Internet transaction volume in the USA alone could exceed 250 million transactions this Christmas. eConnect estimates that consumers, given a choice, might choose to use their ATM cards for up to 20% of these transactions. That could result in an annual revenue stream of over $20 million for processing SafeTpay transactions next year, acting as a gateway for handling these ATM transactions in the USA alone.
Future potential world-wide is much larger. As soon as SafeTpay operations are launched successfully in the USA this fall, development will begin on enhancements to the SafeTpay server software, to support message formats for ATM cards issued by banks in other countries. This will enable eConnect to pursue it's global growth strategy, with previously-announced partners such as E-Safe in Australia.
About eConnect:
eConnect is the developer of eSecure systems: this is the usage of simple inexpensive equipment from homes, offices and public locations to pay with SafeTpay which is either a Same-As-Cash ATM card with PIN or an enhanced credit card transaction. eConnect generates a fee per transaction which is paid by the merchant.
This press release contains forward looking statements subject to the safe harbor act created by the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Management cautions that these statements represent projections and estimates of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties.
Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of factors such as changes in the marketplace, unanticipated competitive activity, a downturn in economic conditions, or delays in product development.
CONTACT: For eConnect
Carnegie Cooke
Anita Goldberg, 800/262-2331
or
ET&T
Prima Capital
Elias Argyropoulos, 800/600-8599
or
web sites:
e-connect.cc
ezyshop.cc
econnectauction.com
for eConnect recent interview, see
emergingcompany.com
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09/07/99 08:41 AM EDT
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