Another Internet wallet service is in the works, one that not only
automatically fills in merchant forms, but also offers features like helping
to find what you want,
organizing receipts and blocking unwanted marketing, all while protecting
privacy.
Called Transactor Networks, the company
recently received $5 million in venture capital from Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Its management
team has been involved in the growth of e-commerce, including the development
of Java and the formation of TRUSTe.
Transactor Networks worked with Citibank to sponsor and promote the initial
W@llet pilot, called the CitiWallet. MBNA also offers the service.
Competition includes CyberCash’s InstaBuy, eWallet and others.
Transactor Networks Inc. was founded in 1997 by CEO Ron Martinez, a consumer
software executive and an inventor of Transactor Networks’ technology. The
company says its mission is to provide a standard interface to online
commerce, from the point-of-sale, to customer service and beyond, replacing
“the bewildering array of complicated, one-of-a-kind purchase experiences
currently confronting the online shopper.”
The W@llet is the front end to Transactor Networks’ e-commerce services. The
W@llet stores personal and credit card information, as well as profiles of
various online merchants.
When a customer wants to buy from one of the sites Transactor Networks
supports, they call up the W@llet by clicking on a browser bookmark. The
W@llet analyzes the merchant’s site, and constructs a simplified,
standardized point-and-click front-end for the customer.
Martinez previously founded two other software development enterprises and
helped build Spectrum Holobyte, a privately owned $7 million company, into a
publicly owned $300 million corporation.
CTO Ted Goldstein was head of commerce at Sun Microsystems and a contributor
to the development of the Java Card, Java Ring and Java Wallet.