EVERYONE: Look at www.stream.com
(E-DATA DEFINITELY NEEDS TO TAP INTO THIS STREAM --)
Stream, LitleNet, BBN, and KPMG Announce Industry-Wide Initiative
To Enable Wide-Scale Software Electronic Commerce
Supported by AT&T, IBM, First Data, Microsoft
(IBM'S INVOLVED? HMMM, VERY INTERESTING....)
Westwood, Mass. - May 7, 1996 - Stream International Inc. and LitleNet in association with BBN and KPMG, announced today the formation of the Electronic Licensing and Security Initiative (ELSI). The objective of this initiative is to develop standards and build and operate a scaleable clearing house infrastructure that will make electronic distribution of software secure, accountable, quick, and inexpensive. The group expects the ELSI clearing house, which will be designed to accommodate various industry approaches, to be operational in test mode by late 1996.
Key players are expected to use the clearing house to facilitate the protection of their intellectual property. Among those that have been given an opportunity to see the initial specifications to support the ELSI effort are AT&T, IBM, First Data and Microsoft Corp. Early participants in the ELSI include leading companies that each bring a unique and critical component to the effort.
The ELSI will create an infrastructure to address an increasingly serious barrier to the evolution of software sales on the Internet: the ability to securely track software purchases in cyberspace, both cost-efficiently and on a mass-market scale. The only industry-wide approach to securing and licensing software in cyberspace, the ELSI takes the first concrete step to making broad electronic software distribution a reality, while protecting intellectual property.
As software distribution moves increasingly to a new pricing and electronic-only distribution model, a clearing house that
efficiently moves and tracks software licenses over the Internet, between creators, consumers and resellers of software,
becomes critically important. The participating companies will create an independent, open infrastructure for the software
industry that will act much like the "Federal Reserve Bank of Software," providing a secure distribution mechanism and a
trusted repository for proof of software licensing.
(THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK? THAT'S PRETTY BIG!)
The ELSI clearing house will create and manage "tokens" to provide secure transport and electronic proof of licensing over the Internet. The tokens will also provide end-to-end auditability and accountability of software licenses. By resolving the fundamental issues of security and licensing, the token technology will become the foundation for other Internet-based value-added services, such as: payment processing, electronic download of software, corporate asset management, software rental services, invoicing/royalty reporting, upgrade/fix management, password generation, registration services,
and technical support validation.
(NOTE TO DAVID: NOW THERE'S SOME IDEAS THAT WE DIDN'T THINK OF...)
An ELSI governing body will direct the design and development of the clearing house, and a separate organization will be established to operate the clearing house. "In order to gain broad industry support, the software licensing clearing house must be independent from any participant's particular interest," said Mort Rosenthal, chairman of Stream International.
"The ELSI's mission is to expand Internet commerce for everyone, so we welcome the support and participation of all comers."
(INCLUDING E-DATA? ....)
Tom Litle, president of LitleNet added, "In establishing the ELSI, we've incorporated the technology and expertise of industry leaders to create a vendor-neutral clearing house which enables marketers to focus on developing their business as opposed to protecting their assets. The clearing house allows for the clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of all businesses associated with the life cycle of a customer transaction."
Software Industry Gains Clearinghouse Infrastructure
The ELSI clearinghouse will offer four primary benefits to the software industry.
1. Security of intellectual property. ELSI's secure tokens will incorporate several security measures, including public key
encryption, certificate authority, non-repudiation, digital signature, and an hierarchical trust model.
2. Open, easy access. Because the ELSI is an independent, industry-wide body, every member of the software community
- independent software vendors, resellers and end-users - will have equal access to the clearing house capabilities. It is the
goal of the ELSI to define a single-industry-wide open mechanism to facilitate electronic software licensing.
3. Scalability. As issues of security and electronic commerce are resolved, the Internet will serve as a conduit for billions of
software transactions between users, resellers and ISVs. The ELSI clearing house will be designed to manage transactions
of this scale and complexity.
(SEEMS LIKE THE LOGICAL PLACE FOR E-DATA TO HOOK INTO....)
4. Lower transaction costs. Relying on their own individual efforts, ISVs and resellers could easily spend millions of dollars
building proprietary systems for secure electronic licensing. By working together through the ELSI , the clearing house
provides a more cost-efficient approach to electronic software licensing.
The companies supporting the initiative bring a wide range of expertise and technology to the program:
Stream is a trusted third-party software manufacturer, reseller and technical support provider for leading ISVs, and an authority on software license management for Fortune 500 corporations;
LitleNet's Direct Commerce Network (SM) provides clearing house solutions for marketers, with experience building real-time networked transaction capabilities on a large scale;
IBM, the world's largest software provider, creates, develops, and manufactures the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices, and microelectronics.
(NOT TO MENTION BEING E-DATA'S FIRST LICENSEE...)
AT&T, the world's networking leader, provides comprehensive electronic commerce services that include AT&T WorldNet (TM) Services for internet dial-up access, AT&T Easy World Wide Web (SM) Services for hosting, and AT&T EasyLink (SM) Services for messaging, all supported by its premier research arm, AT&T Laboratories.
BBN is a leader in internetworking technology as a major supplier of internet access, security and electronic commerce services;
First Data Corporation (NYSE:FDC) is a leading provider of information and transaction processing services. First Data's participation in ELSI will be managed out of the company's Card Services Group unit, a leading processor, serving more than 1.7 million merchant outlets and 1,400 financial institutions;
The Strategic Services Consulting (SSC) unit of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP applies knowledge in operations management and enabling technologies to help clients improve business performance. KPMG Peat Marwick LLP is a U.S. member of KPMG Worldwide. KPMG has more than 6,000 partners as well as 76,000 professionals servicing clients
through 1,100 offices in 837 cities in 134 countries.
"The development of open industry standards by the ELSI is an important step toward delivering the cost advantages of electronic software distribution," said Paraic Sweeney, manager of electronic marketing for IBM Software. "The establishment of electronic transaction and fulfillment clearing houses will help drive the creation of an open infrastructure for electronic commerce."
(THIS IBM GUY KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT...)
Kathleen Earley, Vice President of AT&T EasyCommerce Services, expressed strong support for the development of open, industry-wide standards for commerce on the Internet, and stated that "the ELSI initiative is an important step towards the establishment of on-line software distribution standards for the Internet."
"As electronic software distribution takes off, clearing houses will play a pivotal role in electronic transactions and customer
fulfillment," said Jeff Raikes, senior vice president, Microsoft North America. "The ELSI initiative is an important step in the process of creating an open, industry-wide structure for ESD."
Paul Gudonis, president of BBN Planet noted that, "a clearing house for the distribution of high value intellectual property
over the Internet, is a natural step in the evolution of electronic commerce. Having such a facility open to all will be a major
factor in increasing the ease, scale, and efficiency of software distribution in the immediate future and for years to come."
"First Data Corporation's participation in the ELSI allows us to provide software vendors with state-of-the art payment processing to support their electronic software distribution. By linking them to a variety of payment systems, First Data will give these vendors the flexibility to reach a variety of consumers within this emerging market, " said Scott Loftesness, senior vice president at First Data.
"The formation of an industry-wide body like ELSI to govern the development of such high-impact standards as those affecting electronic commerce is a giant step toward realizing the potential of electronic commerce," said Robin Palmer, partner in charge of the Electronic Commerce consulting practice for KPMG. "By providing adequate steps to protect an entity's information, assets, and transactions, this body realizes the commercial potential for significant improvements in productivity, quality, cost and timeliness of data and information dissemination."
(ALL OF THESE TESTIMONIALS BY INDUSTRY EXPERTS REINFORCES THE FUTURE VALUE OF E-DATA'S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.)
Other distributors, resellers and ISVs will be invited to participate in ELSI efforts. The next meeting of the ELSI will be held in early July 1996. For more information on ELSI, contact infoELSI@stream.com
(I WONDER WHAT WILL BE THE DISCUSSION TOPIC AT THAT TIME?) |
