BBN announces Merchant Advantage line of electronic commerce
services
Offers secure, scaleable, affordable transaction processing for merchant websites
ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 1996-- BBN Corp today announced its new electronic commerce
service line, Merchant Advantage, which provides secure transactions, payment settlement and order management for
merchant web sites. This service, available today, enables companies to sell goods and services over the Internet with BBN
Planet handling the security, transaction and order processing.
The initial phase of the BBN Planet Merchant Advantage service targets companies who wish to sell easily specified goods --
such as clothing, books or software -- by credit card over the World Wide Web. Merchants now can sell such goods over
the Internet with a minimal initial investment avoiding expensive system reconfiguration. BBN manages the complex order
management, accounting and fulfillment systems that have inhibited Web-based sales to date. Merchant Advantage provides a
series of system interfaces that enable merchants to build links to their internal operating structures, making the addition of this
new sales channel far less challenging than building from scratch.
"There is a great deal of discussion about Internet-based Electronic Commerce as a major, new distribution channel, yet the
technical and financial barriers have prevented its wide-scale acceptance," said Paul R. Gudonis, president and general
manager of BBN Planet. "Merchant Advantage changes all that; a 24 hour-a-day 7 day-a-week sales channel now is
available for a small investment, and the transaction and order processing issues are handled securely for the merchant by
BBN."
"BBN has established a strong electronic commerce strategy based on the complete electronic commerce cycle. Merchant
Advantage is a building block which BBN can use to support future transaction services," said Caroline Robertson, program
manager at IDC Research. "Merchant Advantage meets all the requirements for simple, Web-based electronic commerce."
The Merchant Advantage service accepts and verifies the order, calculates appropriate sales tax and shipping charges,
authorizes the credit card, issues a digital receipt, manages the encryption between the servers, maintains transaction records,
settles the purchase into the merchant's bank account and notifies the merchant of each order. Additionally, the service offers
a variety of reports and buyer services. Merchant Advantage works with any existing UNIX-based Web site using HTTP-D
and serving standard HTML Internet programming language. A BBN supplied secure link must be installed between the
merchant's server and the Merchant Advantage server.
Merchant Advantage currently is being demonstrated on the BBN Web page at
bbnstore.bbnplanet.com:8000/bbnstor1.htm over the next few weeks. Pricing for the service includes a set up fee of $7,
000. and transaction fees based on the value of the purchase. In the future, the Merchant Advantage service line will add
additional electronic commerce services enabling a variety of Internet-based transactions for specific needs. For more
information on BBN's Merchant Advantage call 1-800-472-4565.
BBN is a leading provider of managed Internet access and value-added services for businesses and organizations. BBN
Planet provides companies of all sizes with reliable Internet access services, network security, web site development and
hosting, international connectivity and electronic commerce and system integration services to effectively use the Internet for
business. BBN Planet had revenues of $73 million and BBN Corporation posted revenue of $234 million for the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1996.
CONTACT: Vaughn Harring
BBN Planet
617-873-4659
harring@bbnplanet.com
OR
Diane Horak
BBN Planet
617-873-6650
dhorak@bbnplanet.com |
