Altura is making more inroads. INSP is a direct investor in Altura...along with Bill Gates.
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Tuesday October 2, 10:04 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: WildCard Systems
WildCard Systems and U.S. Bank Launch U.S. Bank Visa Buxx Online Shopping Mall
Online Shopping Mall, Powered by Altura International, Offers U.S.Bank's Visa Buxx Cardholders a Wide Choice of Merchants and Values
SUNRISE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2001-- WildCard Systems, the leader in delivering stored-value e-payment solutions today announced it has launched an online shopping mall with U.S. Bank on the U.S. Bank Visa Buxx site. The online shopping mall is powered by Altura International, the leading architect, manager and developer of custom online shopping solutions. Altura International provides the e-commerce engine for a variety of WildCard Systems' client programs, including U.S. Bank's Visa Buxx program -- usbank.com.
The U.S. Bank Visa Buxx stored value card is a new payment card that parents can give to teens to teach them financial responsibility. The Visa Buxx product was co-developed by Visa USA and WildCard Systems as an online and offline payment solution that leverages the web to deliver unique value-added features for teens and their parents. The Visa Buxx Shopping Mall is available through the U.S. Bank Visa Buxx website. Both Visa Buxx Cardholders and their parents can access the Visa Buxx Shopping Mall by selecting the ``Shopping Deals'' button. The mall contains hundreds of brands and thousands of products from teen-oriented merchants such as Alloy, GraffitiOnline.com, The Sharper Image and Teva Sports Sandals and offers discounts and promotions on many items.
The Visa Buxx Shopping Mall is powered by Altura's powerful and flexible e-commerce technology, the Altura Merchant Operating System (AMOS), and provides shoppers a universal shopping cart platform that enables the discovery, selection, and purchase of products from multiple merchants in one easy checkout process. Additionally, since AMOS provides an advanced multi-vendor, multi-lingual and multi-currency e-commerce shopping platform, cardholders will have global access to hundreds of thousands of the world's best products. The Visa Buxx Shopping Mall offers the full functionality of the AMOS shopping platform while maintaining the look and feel the Visa Buxx website.
``We included the Visa Buxx Shopping Mall on the U.S. Bank Visa Buxx site because we wanted to offer our customers a wide choice of merchandise with great values,'' said John Focht, Senior Vice President, U.S. Bank. ``Plus, we are able to customize the product offering to meet our marketing and business goals. This makes adding the Visa Buxx Shopping Mall a win-win situation for our customers and U.S. Bank.''
Lee Lorenzen, president and CEO of Altura International and its flagship portal CatalogCity.com said, ``Our selection as WildCard Systems' e-commerce shopping platform is a win for US Bank and the growing list of strategic partnerships that WildCard Systems have formed. We have developed a proven shopping solution that meets the stringent requirements of the financial services industry and is able to scale as WildCard Systems' business grows. Additionally, our hundreds of existing merchant partnerships provide the unique merchandise young affluent online shoppers are looking for.''
WildCard Systems is the technology leader in complex stored-value financial transaction processing, web-based applications and custom software development. In the relationship it has with its bank customers, WildCard Systems serves as the issuing processor, hosts the Internet applications, and provides online, real-time authorization, as well as all settlement functions. Furthermore, the company coordinates card production activities. By offering the Altura e-commerce solution to its customers, WildCard Systems has strengthened its full-service product offering.
``With the Visa Buxx Shopping Mall, WildCard Systems is able to offer our customers a solution that provides incremental revenue opportunities and a shopping experience that builds customer loyalty,'' said Larry Park, President and CEO, WildCard Systems, Inc. ``We are looking forward to working with Altura International to develop new e-commerce programs for even more WildCard Systems products.''
About U.S. Bank
Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - news), with assets in excess of $165 billion, is the 8th largest financial services holding company in the United States. The company operates 2,283 banking offices and 4,937 ATMs, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. U.S. Bancorp is the parent company of Firstar Banks and U.S. Bank. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at usbank.com and Firstar Bank at firstar.com.
About Altura International
Founded in September 1997, and partially funded by Bill Gates, Yahoo! and InfoSpace, Altura International builds and manages custom e-commerce shopping solutions for the largest Web portals, Fortune 500 companies, and major merchants in the mail-order and online catalog businesses. Altura has deployed over 30 shopping solutions for leading companies including AOL, Yahoo, Excite, MasterCard, and iVillage. Through CatalogCity.com, Altura's flagship shopping portal, consumers are provided easy access to the world's best products and merchants. Building on the strengths of its Altura Merchant Operating System (AMOS) technology and its customer acquisition agreements with hundreds of top name brand merchants, Altura has established itself as the leading developer of e-commerce shopping solutions. Altura-powered malls are located at the most heavily trafficked Internet intersections and are designed to deliver the most satisfying remote shopping experiences for customers around the world. Altura International is a privately held company and is headquartered in Monterey, CA. More information can be found by visiting the company's Web site at altura.com and catalogcity.com.
About WildCard Systems
WildCard Systems is an e-payments company that is the technology leader for electronic stored-value accounts and related Web-based software. Stored-value (prepaid) type products, particularly those designed to make purchases on the Internet, represent one of the biggest untapped markets for consumer payments. WildCard's secure e-transaction platform is supported by a full range of services to deliver a complete host-based stored-value solution for a wide range of vertical markets. The company has been selected by Visa, USA as a Preferred Processor for stored-value payment systems. WildCard's clients include leaders in each of its vertical markets and some of the top financial institutions in the country. Founded in 1997, WildCard Systems is a privately held, venture capital backed company. The company is headquartered in Sunrise, Fla. with offices in Silicon Valley, Orlando and Atlanta. For more information, visit wildcardsystems.com.
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Contact:
WildCard Systems
Paul Smith, 650/851-7213
paul.smith@wildcardsystems.com
or
Altura International
Greg Marshall, 831/647-6006
gregm@altura.com
or
U.S. Bank
John Focht, 414/765-6260
john.focht@firstar.com
or
U.S. Bank
Teri Charest, 612/973-4594
teri.charest@usbank.com
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