Could this have caused today's drop?
<<<EDS Working With Oracle to Provide Internet Bill Presentation And Payment Solutions
LAS VEGAS, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) announced today at the Bank Administration Institute's "BAI" Retail Delivery Show that its Financial Services division is working with EDS (NYSE: EDS), the Plano, TX-based professional services firm. EDS Electronic Business is evaluating new Oracle technologies to support billers and banking partners that sign up for EDS Interactive Billing Services, electronic bill presentation and payment.
EDS Electronic Business intends to collaborate with Oracle Consulting Services to support the implementation of these technologies at EDS and with EDS' billers and banking partners. Oracle and EDS are also in discussions to cooperatively develop related electronic commerce solutions based on the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) standard.
According to Paul Rudolph, president of EDS' Electronic Business organization, EDS chose to work with Oracle due to the company's strength as a well-established enterprise software provider with the resources to continuously update and support its state-of-the-art technology platforms. "We are combining EDS' vast experience in systems integration, Web development and hosting, ATM network management, credit card processing, home banking and ACH payment services with the proven scalability of Oracle's database and e-commerce technology, and industry-leading back-end integration tools," said Mr. Rudolph. "This combination is exactly what the industry has been looking for."
According to Steven R. Perkins, senior vice president, Oracle Financial Services, the companies plan to build on Oracle's strategy of enabling financial institutions to more effectively target and deliver products and services through a multitude of delivery channels, including customer self-service via the Internet.
To build the customer self-service delivery channel for financial products and services, Oracle is working with leading payment settlement and financial services outsourcing firms to promote the OFX messaging standard and to provide billers and financial services firms with an open, cutting-edge bill presentation and payment solution. Oracle is also working to enable financial institutions to collect valuable customer information gleaned from bill presentation and payment services, and to use this information to tailor their marketing activities.
Companies using EDS Interactive Billing Services can present bills to consumer and business customers in electronic format via the Internet. Customers use a standard Web browser to view bills and can then pay them electronically via credit card, debit from a checking or savings account, ACH transfer or other methods.
Oracle's e-commerce bill and present technologies can deliver bills through a biller's own branded Web site. Alternatively, these technologies can route bills for presentment to any number of bill consolidators or Consumer Service Providers (CSPs) such as TransPoint or Quicken.com. The plan is for billers and consolidators using Oracle technology to be able to interface directly with EDS Interactive Billing Services, enabling bill presentation through the EDS service. Billers and consolidators are expected to be able to use EDS Interactive Billing Services for bill payment and settlement.
"By working closely with EDS, we anticipate giving billers and financial services firms the opportunity to work with an technology partner they trust and rely on," said Mr. Perkins.
"Oracle is also working to promote the adoption of OFX by providing a highly scalable, robust solution based on the OFX standard to ensure the widespread interoperability that will be necessary for electronic bill presentation and payment to gain broad industry acceptance," added Andy Felong, Oracle vice president, Internet Applications Division.
About EDS
EDS, the official information technology services provider for World Cup 1998, is a leader in the global information services industry. The company's more than 110,000 employees specialize in applying a range of ideas and technologies to help business and government clients improve their economics, products, services and relationships. EDS, which serves clients in 45 countries, reported revenues of $15.2 billion in 1997. The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. Visit EDS via the Internet at eds.com.
About Oracle Financial Services
Oracle's Financial Services division, which is responsible for driving development, sales, marketing, consulting and related services to banks, capital markets and insurance firms, supports Oracle's overall vertical industry strategy of combining Oracle's core competencies with specific industry applications.
Oracle Financial Services Applications suite enables financial institutions to calculate profitability and performance, assess asset/liability and interest rate risk, conduct database marketing and campaign management, create budgets and forecasts, and calculate funds transfer pricing. The suite complements Oracle Financial(TM) comprised of applications such as Oracle General Ledger, Purchasing, Payables, Receivables, Cash Management, and Assets.>>> |
