NETSCAPE AND CYBERCASH ANNOUNCE RELATIONSHIP TO BROADEN PAYMENT OPTIONS OVER THE INTERNET
San Francisco, Calif. (October 7, 1996) -- Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: NSCP) and CyberCash, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCH) today announced a technology and marketing relationship to broaden payment options for Internet consumers. As part of the agreement, CyberCash's CyberCoin Internet payment technology will be bundled into future versions of Netscape products, including Netscape LivePayment server software for online payment processing.
The two companies will also collaborate on including future CyberCash payment services, such as Cybercash's electronic check services, into future Netscape commerce offerings. Netscape and CyberCash plan to jointly market these Internet payment solutions to consumers and businesses, and will align their efforts to accelerate the deployment of Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) credit card payment technology in the marketplace.
"We have had strong demand for small value payment technology particularly from the professional information publishing industry - the integration of CyberCash CyberCoin with Netscape's commerce solutions provides our customers with a way to complete small transactions over the Internet," said Srivats Sampath, vice president of marketing for servers, tools and applications at Netscape. "By enabling more payment options for businesses and consumers, Netscape and CyberCash will help expand the range of goods and services available in the electronic marketplace."
"Combined with Netscape's customer base, CyberCoin is filling a need in the marketplace for small payment processing," said Denis Yaro, executive vice president, products and operations at CyberCash. "This is a huge step in our efforts to bring Internet transaction technology to consumers and businesses and to increase online inventory, making the virtual mall a reality."
"Both Netscape and CyberCash have announced relationships with First Data Corp. to match First Data's acquiring financial institution clients and Merchant Bank Alliance partners with products and services like LivePayment and CyberCoin," said Chuck White, senior vice president of First Data Card Services Group's Electronic Funds Services unit, "The relationship announced today between Netscape and CyberCash will provide enhanced electronic commerce services to our partners."
CyberCoin is a payment service which permits online purchases for items costing between 25¢ and $10. This new payment solution opens up significant opportunities for merchants to market low cost, high value items such as news and information, graphics, games and music. It also allows merchants to unbundle larger product offerings, and sell them in smaller increments. Early adopters of CyberCoin include First Union Bank, First USA Paymentech, Michigan National Bank and First Data Corp.
CyberCash's CyberCoin technology will be bundled into future releases of Netscape's LivePayment point-of-sale software, enabling online businesses to accept multiple payment methods and implement new pricing and business models. LivePayment will integrate this new payment functionality seamlessly and cost-effectively for businesses, while providing administration and configuration controls with flexible logging reports, and a variety of sample merchant applications to minimize the start-up development costs of merchants. Both Netscape and CyberCash will market Netscape LivePayment software to businesses looking to develop or expand online distribution channels.
CyberCoin' will also be integrated into future versions of Netscape Navigator client software, which will include technology that streamlines consumers' shopping experience by providing a uniform interface for Internet purchases and transactions. Similar to a real wallet, this technology will organize into one place a user's credit card numbers, shipping addresses, digital IDs, electronic receipts and other payment instruments needed to purchase goods and services on the Internet.
Netscape and CyberCash will coordinate their efforts on Secure Electronic Transactions (SET), the credit card payment protocol under development by VISA, MasterCard and others, to assure interoperability between their credit card-related electronic commerce implementations. Committed to being among the first to deliver SET-compliant products to the marketplace, both Netscape and CyberCash will also collaborate with other important industry leaders in an effort to facilitate SET's arrival in the shortest possible timeframe.
Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: NSCP) is a leading provider of open software for linking people and information over enterprise networks and the Internet. The company offers a full line of clients, servers, development tools and commercial applications to create a complete platform for next-generation, live online applications. Netscape Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, California.
CyberCash, Inc., (NASDAQ: CYCH), of Reston, Virginia, founded in August 1994, is a leading developer of software and service solutions for secure financial transactions over the Internet. The CyberCash system is designed to allow banks to offer secure Internet payments to their customers. CyberCash works with virtually all financial processing institutions, and is currently working with VISA and MasterCard to develop and implement the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol for online credit card transactions. The company's initial service, which handles payments using major credit cards, was introduced in April 1995. CyberCoin, the company's innovative micropayment service that enables cash transactions, was launched on September 30, 1996. CyberCash's electronic check service is expected to be released in Q4, 1996.
Additional information on Netscape Communications Corporation is available on the Internet at http://home.netscape.com, by sending email to info@netscape.com or by calling 415/937-2555 (corporate customers) or 415/9378-3777 (individuals).
Netscape, Netscape Communications, Netscape LivePayment and Netscape
Navigator are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation.
Additional information about CyberCash, Inc. can be found at
www.cybercash.com.