IVI Checkmate announces OEM agreement with ShopNow.com
Agreement positions IVI Checkmate to resell Microsoft ActiveStore
compliant payment solutions to VARs and Distributors
ATLANTA, GA/TORONTO, Jan. 19 /CNW/ - IVI Checkmate Corp. (NASDAQ: CMIV);
(TSE: IVC/IVI) today announced an agreement with ShopNow.com Inc. (NASDAQ:
SPNW), to re-market ShopNow eBusiness Division's Active-Charge(TM) payment
application to value added resellers (VARs) and distributors serving the upper
and middle tier retail marketplace.
ShopNow eBusiness Active-Charge is a robust and proven payment management
application based on Microsoft's ActiveStore(TM) Framework. In addition to
supporting credit, debit, and electronic benefit payment transactions,
Active-Charge also supports check guarantee and check verification services,
making it a total payment application solution for retailers that are either
using or migrating to Windows-based point-of-sale systems.
Per a 1998 Retail Automation Research Office report, there are
approximately 693,000 store locations in the U.S. middle tier retail market
that are potential users of Windows-based in-store application software. These
retailers are migrating their point-of-sale installations from proprietary
software to "open system" based solutions that reduce their cost of ownership
while enabling them to implement new and innovative value-added applications
which increase customer loyalty. The key to this migration is Microsoft's
ActiveStore, a development framework that defines standards of
interoperability for the diverse number of applications, database and
communication methods found in a store system environment.
"Retailers want store automation applications that work together and
interface easily with payment terminals, scanners and other in-store
peripherals as well as their enterprise applications. Microsoft has responded
to this need by enhancing its Windows NT platform with ActiveStore. The
combination of ShopNow's Active-Charge software and IVI Checkmate's payment
terminals provide an open, yet robust, solution that has enormous benefits for
retailers," stated Bill Pittman, Executive Vice President and Chief Technical
Architect, of ShopNow's eBusiness Division.
Jim Troy, Vice President, of IVI Checkmate's Integrated Transaction
Solutions business unit stated, "ShopNow eBusiness' Active-Charge payment
application provides IVI Checkmate with a superior payment management
application based on Microsoft ActiveStore. The ActiveStore framework is fast
becoming the standard by which point-of-sale applications are developed." Troy
continued, "The largest processors, debit providers, and check services
providers in the U.S. have certified ShopNow's Active-Charge application,
positioning IVI Checkmate with a comprehensive and simple-to-integrate payment
solution for our VAR and distributor network."
About ShopNow.com
ShopNow.com Inc. is a leading e-commerce enabling company for
business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce. ShopNow.com operates
an e-commerce network known as the ShopNow Network, which is comprised of
online access to over 40,000 businesses and over 6 million shoppers. The
ShopNow.com portal (http://www.shopnow.com) is an online marketplace for
connecting buyers and sellers worldwide and provides a range of
business-to-business e-commerce products and services. ShopNow.com Inc. is
headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with additional offices in Georgia,
Arizona, Kansas and California.
[Note: Interesting sidelight - ShopNow is a hidden asset of Saturn Solutions (T.SDQ). Their holding of 422,710 shares at yesterday's close of US $20 are worth over C$12M but currently on the books at the book value of $150,000 since the shares can't be sold until April 2000.]
About IVI Checkmate
IVI Checkmate is the third largest electronic transaction solutions
provider in North America. The Company designs, develops, and markets
innovative payment and value-added solutions that optimize transaction
management at the point-of-service in the retail, financial, travel &
entertainment, healthcare, and transportation industries. For more information
on IVI Checkmate, visit its web site at ivicheckmate.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements subject to the
safe harbor created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Management cautions that these statements represent projections and estimates
of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties. The
Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in
these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors including,
without limitation, rapid and significant technological developments that
could delay the introduction of improvements in existing products or of new
products; the Company's dependence on its limited suppliers and manufacturers
of component parts of its products; the Company's dependence on its
proprietary technologies (which may be independently developed by
competitors); the Company's dependence on a small number of large retail
customers; the potential fluctuation in financial results as a result of the
Company's inability to make sales to large customers as well as the volume and
timing of bookings received during a quarter and variations in sales mix;
competition from existing companies as well as new market entrants; the
Company's dependence on key personnel; and other factors that are contained in
documents that the Company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
For further information: L. Barry Thomson, President & CEO, IVI
Checkmate Corp., (770) 594-6000, (416) 245-6700; John J. Neubert,
CFO/Executive Vice President, IVI Checkmate Corp., (770) 594-6000;
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