Tuesday February 23, 9:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Upgrade International Corp. Acquires 50% of EforNet Corporation, a supplier of Electronic Commerce Solutions for the Internet
BLAINE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 1999--Upgrade International Corp. (OTC BB:UPGD) (FRANKFURT:UPG) (BERLIN:UPG) President Daniel Bland is pleased to announce the formation of EforNet Corporation, a Washington corporation owned 50% by Upgrade.
On February 19, 1999, EforNet acquired all of the rights, assets and operations of Financial Electronic Systems Inc. (FINET). FINET is the leading developer of secure electronic financial transaction solutions for Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and credit card switching software, as well as secure lottery software.
FINET was founded, owned and operated by David I. Zucker, who has over thirty years' experience in the data processing industry. Zucker owns the remaining 50% of EforNet Corporation, which will develop proprietary electronic commerce solutions for the Internet.
According to Zucker, ''EforNet will provide secure, convenient and functional solutions for Internet Electronic Commerce. EforNet proprietary protocol emulation and selection services (OpenWallet(tm)) will enable consumers and merchants to negotiate and select the most advantageous credit, debit or electronic payment method for the type, amount and security requirements of a particular transaction. In the same vein as the customer now has payment choices and the merchant now has acceptance preferences, OpenWallet(tm) technology provides a secure and convenient 'electronic wallet' and repository of subscription service access codes for existing and future types of Internet Commerce.''
EforNet will also provide an operational development platform for other vendors of card storage services.
Upgrade International Corp. through its shareholding interest in UltraCard Inc. is engaged in the development and commercialization of a patented, revolutionary data storage technology. UltraCard applies conventional hard drive storage technology onto the surface of the standard credit card. The company has successfully demonstrated the ability to store up to 5mb (five million bytes) of data on a standard credit card. This provides a dramatic increase in storage capacity compared to existing industry standards. Presently, magnetic stripe and integrated circuit chip (smart card) technology, respectively have 256 bytes and 2k (two thousand bytes) of data storage capacity. Additionally, Upgrade is engaged in the acquisition and development of related software applications that will provide synergistic distribution channels for the UltraCard technology while also providing a diversified asset base.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
''Daniel Bland'' Daniel Bland, President
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Contact:
Upgrade International Corp.
Daniel Bland, 360/332-2508
Fax: 360/332-4309
E-Mail: dbland@nas.com
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