The Alliance Is First to Market With Spectrum-Compatible Solution
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing to drive
industry-adoption of Internet billing, the Sun-Netscape Alliance today
announced that its iPlanet(TM) BillerXpert solution will be compatible with
Spectrum, enabling communication of bills through Spectrum to points of bill
consolidation. Furthermore, First Union will leverage the Spectrum-compatible
iPlanet BillerXpert solution and iPlanet ECXpert to host Internet bill
presentment and payment (IBPP) services for its corporate customers.
Spectrum is a corporate entity formed by Chase Manhattan, First Union and
Wells Fargo. Spectrum provides a secure infrastructure to streamline the
presentment of bills between billers and their customers, and functions as a
hub, allowing members to route electronic bills through a single connection to
other participating vendors. A goal of the organization is to provide an
open, interoperable mechanism for exchanging online bills, regardless of the
technology employed by the individual members.
The Alliance billing solutions' compatibility with Spectrum dramatically
increases the possible points of distribution for corporate customers and
enhances their ability to become an application service provider. First Union
will be one of the first financial institutions to leverage this compatible
iPlanet BillerXpert solution. It also will leverage iPlanet ECXpert in the
parsing phase of the billing process.
"Our corporate customers are looking for options to simplify their billing
experience, and we chose iPlanet BillerXpert not only for its scalability and
scope of product capabilities but for its practical usability," said
Nina R. Archer, executive vice president and Global Cash Management Division
head at First Union. "Leveraging the Alliance's iPlanet BillerXpert
application, First Union will be able to provide hosted Internet billing
solutions to help customers better realize the benefits of electronic bill
presentment and payment, and increase the value-proposition of their
e-commerce business model."
"The Sun-Netscape Alliance is playing a critical role in helping to shape
the Internet bill presentment and payment market, providing real business
solutions that can easily be adopted by companies and consumers today," said
James Shuder, senior director of customer relationship management solutions
for the Sun-Netscape Alliance e-commerce division. "This announcement, which
makes the Alliance one of the first vendors to offer a Spectrum-compatible
Internet billing solution, will help customers expand their IBPP model."
Currently, the Alliance offers iPlanet BillerXpert and iPlanet ECXpert as
part of its portfolio of production-ready e-commerce applications. iPlanet
BillerXpert is a comprehensive IBPP solution that allows personalized
statement presentation and set notifications of new bills, captures customer
information and conducts interactive marketing campaigns through event-based
relationship management, user-activity tracking and targeted email. The
application also supports multiple payment types including credit cards and
checks. iPlanet ECXpert is an Internet commerce exchange application that
enables an enterprise to automate and manage the processes that occur between
organizations over the Internet and existing private networks.
About First Union Corporation:
First Union Corporation (NYSE: FTU) is a leading provider of financial
services to more than 16 million retail and commercial customers throughout
the East Coast and the nation. At September 30, 1999, First Union had assets
of $235 billion and total stockholders' equity of $16 billion. The company
operates full-service banking offices in Connecticut, Deleware, Florida,
Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
About the Sun-Netscape Alliance
America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) and Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW)
formed the Sun-Netscape Alliance to provide easy to deploy, comprehensive
enterprise and e-commerce solutions and services to business partners and
other companies competing in today's Net Economy. The Alliance product
portfolio provides customers with the industry's most scalable, integrated
infrastructure software and a family of production ready e-commerce
applications. The products are offered on the industry's most widely
available product platforms, including DEC, HP, IBM, Linux, SGI, Microsoft
Windows, and Sun. The alliance software product portfolio includes:
messaging and calendar, collaboration, Web, application, directory, and
certificate servers. The Alliance aly of production-ready
applications for e-commerce, including commerce exchange, procurement, selling
and billing.
About America Online, Inc.
Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc., based in Dulles, Virginia, is the
world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and
e-commerce services. America Online, Inc. operates: two worldwide Internet
services, America Online, with more than 18 million members, and CompuServe,
with approximately 2 million members; several leading Internet brands
including ICQ and Digital City, Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter and AOL.COM
portals; and the Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers. Through its
strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the Company develops and offers
easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for companies
operating in the Net Economy.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, The Network is The
Computer(TM), has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a
leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for
establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the
Internet. With more than $11 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in
more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.
NOTE: Netscape and the Netscape N logo are registered trademarks in the
United States and other countries of Netscape Communications, a subsidiary of
America Online, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, iPlanet and The
Network Is The Computer are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United
States and other countries.
SOURCE Sun-Netscape Alliance
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Related links:
http://www.home.netscape.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/585525.html or fax,
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CONTACT:
Kristen Hyland of the Sun-Netscape Alliance,
650-937-6053, or kristenh@netscape.com; or Caroline Campbell of
GCI Group, 404-989-1734, or ccampbell@gcigroup.com, for the
Sun-Netscape Alliance
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