Like most portals, Alley-based Juno has cut strategic partnerships with dozens of companies -- deals which have strengthened its standing among competitors. And this partnership is essentially no different, offering the ISP a healthy revenue generator. In turn, California-based WizShop stands to gain traffic from Juno's subscribers.

"I think it's both [a branding and revenue deal] because it enhances our shopping area by adding hundreds of new merchants from WizShop, while it helps WizShop to drive traffic in the same way that CNet and Amazon.com came to us with similar goals," said Ardai.

Ardai declined to discuss the terms of the deal, including the specifics of the revenue sharing agreement. However, he said compensation would be based on generated transactions, among other aspects.

WizShop will also compensate Juno for supplementary advertising revenue it is able to generate as a result of the partnership, for example.

Under the agreement, WizShop will manage the content and tools on Juno's Shopping Channel with links to merchants, including Walmart.com, JCrew.com, and ToysRUs.com.

Juno, which lists 14.2 million total registered subscribers as of last year's end, provides services including free basic Internet access, billable premium dial-up service, and (in certain markets) high-speed broadband access.

The company's revenues are derived primarily from the subscription fees charged for its billable premium services, from the sale of advertising, and from various forms of electronic commerce.

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