BellSouth, Breakthrough Software to Offer E-Commerce Solutions

BellSouth and San Jose, CA-based Breakthrough Software Inc., a provider of e-
commerce software, signed an agreement by which BellSouth will host e-commerce
Web sites built using Breakthrough’s online store development product,
ShopZone.

The new solutions are aimed at small- and medium-sized business customers.

The agreement allows customers to create their own e-commerce Web sites
with ShopZone and then have the Web site hosted by BellSouth. Financial
arrangements were not disclosed.

“For something as critical as e-commerce, we practice extreme diligence in
researching which technologies and products to offer our customers,” said
Donna Lachance, vice president of marketing, BellSouth.net Internet Services.

“In 1999, BellSouth is focused on expanding our small- and medium-sized
business offerings with only the best e-commerce products on the market today,
and Breakthrough’s market leadership position made them a natural choice to
help our small business customers better utilize the
Internet.”

ShopZone is based on the ShopZone Core Technology which is implemented in
Breakthrough’s entire product line. In just a few hours, users can create a
professional online presence that is secure, reliable and and scaleable, the
company said.

Key ShopZone features include the use of wizards for the product catalog,
shopping cart, order forms, shipping rates, tax schedules, discussion groups,
electronic forms, and search engine; integration with popular editors such as
Microsoft’s FrontPage and NetObjects Fusion, and the Quickbooks accounting
package; built-in relational database
connectivity; offline site preview; built-in site management, built-in
scripting language enabling customization; 50 pre-designed graphics templates;
support for UNIX and Windows; and support for CyberCash, ClearCommerce, and IC
Verify payment authorization solutions.