In a move aimed at securing e-commerce transactions in
Europe, Compaq Computer Corp. today
announced that it was chosen as the prime contractor to implement the IT
solution for credit card firm Visa’s
pilot project in the Netherlands.
Compaq said it is supplying its Internet, iTP Payment Solution and Secure
Electronic Transaction (SET) technology, designed to enable safe
transactions on the Internet.
The iTP Payment Solution is an end-to-end SET 1.0-based software solution
for electronic payment systems on the Web. The solution offers security,
reliability, scalability and rapid access to the Internet, Compaq said. The
iTP Payment Gateway-server, which processes the payment transactions for
Visa, runs on a clustered Windows NT Server-based Compaq system.
“Compaq believes that SET will become one of the most important standards
for secure credit card
transactions on the Internet,” said Chris Conway, EMEA Vice President of
Compaq’s Enterprise Computing Group.
“At the moment, it is the only security protocol specifically developed for
payment applications, with a “public key” infrastructure (PKI) making use
of both commercial encryption
systems and digital certifications, which guarantee the integrity and
security of information,” Conway said.
Apart from the Visa project in the Netherlands, various Compaq noted SET
projects that are running elsewhere in the world, include Danish Payment
Systems (PBS);
Telekurs in Switzerland; the US Treasury, Chase/Wall-Mart and the Mellon
Bank in North America; and the China Trust
Commercial Bank and Citibank in Asia.
According to Forrester Research, the market will be worth more
than US$300 billion by 2002. Further information about SET-certified
products can
be found at SETCO.
