Open Market Inc. said it licensed its Transact electronic commerce application to UK telecommunications company Cable & Wireless Plc and to Standard and Poor’s, and entered into an alliance this week with PLATINUM technology inc.
Cable & Wireless will offer Internet commerce services to companies wishing to sell their goods and services over the Web. The new service will offer low-cost entry into Internet commerce for small to medium-sized enterprises. Cable & Wireless said it has already invested 3 million pounds in developing the service.
Merchants will sign up through an accredited network of resellers, drawn from
experienced Web designers and systems integrators throughout the UK. The
first reseller appointed to the service is Commercenet, a Web design and
systems integration company. It has been working with Cable and Wireless to
trial the service with bookseller Oxford University Press.
“Cable and Wireless has successfully driven down the costs of communication in
the UK. It is now applying its value-for-money philosophy to Internet
commerce,” said Alan Cornwell, Open Market’s director of Europe, Middle East,
and Africa. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Separately, Open Market said that Standard & Poor’s Internet-based personal
investment service, known as S&P Personal Wealth, is also using
Transact.
S&P’s Personal Wealth offers a suite of investment management features,
including customized investment advice and recommendations, original editorial
content, market commentary, analysis, and research.
Also, Open Market announced a strategic alliance with PLATINUM technology
inc., a software and service provider that helps IT organizations manage and
improve their IT infrastructure.
As an Open Market Professional Services Partner, PLATINUM will use Open
Market’s Transact software to broaden its Internet service offerings by
providing customers with custom electronic commerce solutions that interface
with existing corporate systems and with PLATINUM’s Java/C++ programming, data
mining and infrastructure management services.
In addition, Oakbrook Terrace, IL-based PLATINUM has also selected Transact to
commerce-enable the PLATINUM Web site by the end of this year.
Open Market’s Transact is designed to provide security, flexibility, and scalability for e-commerce, including online delivery of digital goods, customer tracking, personalized interaction and online customer service.