CyberSource Enters Partnership With Merisel

CyberSource, a provider of electronic commerce services for digital products, signed an agreement with Merisel, a hardware and software product distributor, that will open up an electronic software distribution (ESD) channel.

The channel will serve Merisel's numerous software manufacturers and its more than 45,000 resellers throughout the United States and Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As part of the agreement, Merisel will take advantage of San Jose, CA-based CyberSource's digital commerce services that include reseller credit and authorization validation, export and restricted parties screening, fraud screening of end users, creating and storing of bags of bits (BOBs), and the handling of all transactions required for an ESD sale.

Merisel will also use CyberSource's global rights registry for the issuance of electronic keys and the maintenance of an intellectual rights database.

"This partnership reflects our shared goal of offering additional value and ESD services to resellers and expanding the Internet commerce market," said Tracy Robbins, vice president of software at El Segundo, CA-based Merisel. "The combination of CyberSource's leadership in digital commerce coupled with Merisel's channel expertise allows our resellers to easily and confidently purchase software electronically."