First Data, iMall, IBM Team to Offer E-Commerce Solutions

Melville, NY-based First Data Merchant Services Corp. and
IBM said they plan to deliver a
suite of e-commerce services to enable small and medium businesses to build
online storefronts, complete with online payment solutions, within a matter
of hours.

IBM HomePage Creator for e-business, a Web authoring, maintenance and hosting
service, will be incorporated with components of the First Data and iMALL Inc. joint e-commerce offering to
provide the key elements required for merchants to begin selling products and
services over the Internet.

“This innovative offering will provide small and medium businesses access to
the services they need to establish a merchant account, to take online credit
card orders over the Internet in a security-rich environment, and help drive
traffic to their Web sites,” said Sanjaya Addanki, vice president, hosted
business application services, IBM
Global Services.

Financial arrangements among the companies were not disclosed.

New HomePage Creator customers will have access to First Data and iMALL’s
e-commerce features including a virtual cash register, shopping cart, sales
tax calculation,
shipping coordination, merchant account via an Internet application, online
credit card
transaction processing, an integrated payments gateway, and the iMALL
shopping portals Stuff.com and imall.com to help drive traffic to their
stores.

“Our combined technologies, leveraged by IBM’s brand strength and marketing
channels, provide a compelling proposition for merchants,” said John Duncan, executive vice president at First Data Merchant Services.

“Customers of HomePage Creator are exactly the market we are targeting–small to midsize merchants,” said Richard Rosenblatt, chairman and chief
executive officer of iMALL.