100th AXI Client

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American Express’ online corporate travel booking system, ‘AXI’,  jointly developed with Microsoft passed a  milestone yesterday in its sixth month of its general rollout. BFGoodrich Company became the 100th AXI site. The new ‘AXI 1.5’ version includes such new features as a new gateway area that provides travel-related content, plus information for first-time users on how to use the system and answers to frequently asked questions. ‘1.5’ also offers the ability to request a car service to and from the airport, as well as frequent flyer upgrades for any segment of the trip, and offers customizable display options for car rental and hotel companies that give precedence to suppliers based on corporate negotiated rate, the American Express Select rate, followed by others.

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MBNA NASCAR

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MBNA America also announced Tuesday that it has extended its exclusive agreement with NASCAR making MBNA the official credit card issuer of NASCAR in conjunction with VISA’s NASCAR partnership. MBNA says it will expand its commitment to NASCAR and its motorsports sector through new marketing programs and sponsorships to benefit NASCAR, its drivers, and fans.  Beginning in 1999, MBNA will introduce a number of initiatives aimed at promoting NASCAR. MBNA currently has more than 400,000 NASCAR credit cardholders. The NASCAR-MBNA  credit card which was launched in 1993, offers the pictures of 48 drivers.  MBNA’s Motorsports unit has more than 300 affinity relationships including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy Racing League, the National Hot Rod Association, Championship Auto Racing Teams, and American Motorcycle Association.  Last year, MBNA added a second sponsored race at Dover Downs International Speedway.  The addition of the spring MBNA Platinum 200 and the MBNA Platinum 400 expanded MBNA’s involvement with NASCAR and Dover Downs, adding to the continued sponsorship of the renamed MBNA Gold 200 and MBNA Gold 400 in Dover in September.  The two annual race weekends include the Busch Series Grand National and the Winston Cup Series.

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VISA Motorsports

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VISA U.S.A. inked partnerships with the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (better known as NASCAR) and the Daytona International Speedway, home of the ‘Daytona 500’. VISA said Tuesday it will leverage these relationships through integrated marketing programs encompassing advertising, consumer promotions, retail tie-ins, VISA preference programs, and track relationships. Additionally, all new and existing NASCAR and Daytona co-branded and affinity payment card products will bear the VISA brand.  As part of a three-year partnership with NASCAR, which takes effect January 1, 1999, VISA will become the “Preferred Card of NASCAR,” including the Winston Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, as well as the NASCAR regional racing series. VISA also receives the exclusive right to provide the NASCAR-VISA marks to member banks and merchants in the U.S. and Canada for promotional purposes. As part of VISA’s partnership with Daytona, VISA will become an official corporate sponsor and the preferred card of the Daytona 500 and the Daytona International Speedway.

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GE Capital Gets Boeing

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The Boeing Company selected GE Capital Monday to provide its T&E, purchasing and fleet vehicle card payment systems.  The agreement is part of ongoing cost-saving initiatives by the Boeing Shared Services Group. Business-wide, Boeing SSG has a goal to significantly reduce the cost of doing business.  The Boeing Company represents one of the top ten T&E programs in volume nationwide.  The T&E, purchasing and fleet card programs are launching in the second half of the year.  Total number of T&E, purchasing and fleet cardholders will exceed 60,000.

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Blau Gets Award

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Snyder Communications said yesterday that its Blau Marketing subsidiary won seven ‘Tempo Awards’ for its work with Sears, SunTrust Bankcard and The Associates. The ‘Tempo Awards’ are awarded annually by the Chicago Association of Direct Marketers in recognition of leading marketing and creative programs. Blau won three ‘Business to Business Direct Mail’ awards for its Sears campaign designed to encourage store managers to internally promote the benefits of the Sears’ credit card. Blau’s work with SunTrust Bankcard N.A., targeting increased check usage by new and existing card members, resulted in two ‘Consumer Direct Mail’ awards. Finally, Blau won two additional Consumer Direct Mail awards for its programs targeting new college-age credit card consumers on behalf of The Associates.

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Triton gets New Partner

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Triton Systems and McLane FSP signed an agreement yesterday to supply ATMs to the off-site ATM market. McLane FSP has been distributing ATMs since 1994 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of McLane Company, Inc., the only nationwide supplier of food and non-food products to the convenience store industry in the U.S.  FSP provides convenience store retailers with value-added programs such as prepaid phone cards, ATMs, check-cashing and other financial services. Triton sold 7,767 machines in 1997, a 39% jump over the previous year.

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NCR Gets Into Modeling

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NCR announced Monday it is augmenting the power of its data-warehousing and professional consultancy services through an agreement with Quadstone, the Scottish-based developer of ‘Decisionhouse’, a fully-scalable suite of tools for integrated data access, visualization, and predictive modeling. ‘Decisionhouse’ is an integral part of the NCR propensity modeling offer. Propensity modeling enables banks to accurately predict customer behavior in a number of key business areas – for example, who is likely to buy a certain service or product, who might be thinking of moving to a rival bank, or who shows risks of defaulting on a credit card or loan payment.

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MBNA Gets Smart

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Despite an aversion to the Internet and other emerging technologies, the nation’s second largest bank credit card issuer, MBNA, announced yesterday it is getting into the smart card game. MBNA, along with VISA USA and De La Rue Card Systems, is testing a multi-function smart card that will combine credit, stored value and loyalty functions on a single smart card. The ‘VISA Smart Card’ will give consumers access to two payment products: ‘VISA Smart Credit’ and ‘VISA Cash’ stored value.  The new card will also contain a loyalty application that enables cardholders to accrue frequent-shopper points and redeem them for rewards with designated merchants at MBNA’s corporate headquarters. MBNA will test the multi-function ‘VISA Smart Card’ with its on-site food and merchandise vendors, which serve more than 2,000 MBNA employees.  Cardholders can earn frequent-shopper points for all chip-based purchases they make from merchants, and can redeem their points for discounts on merchandise at the point of purchase.  In addition, cardholders can receive free merchandise after they have purchased a designated number of items.  For example, when a customer buys three entrees at one of the company’s dining facilities, a fourth entree can be immediately awarded at no cost. The cards will feature advanced microprocessors developed by De La Rue that can support up to nine different reward programs.   De La Rue is also providing complete card management and transaction collection for MBNA.

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VISA Gets Tony Bennett

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Tony Bennett became the seventh famous face and first famous voice to participate in a VISA commercial to raise awareness for the ‘VISA Check Card’ yesterday. Created by BBDO New York, the 60-second spot breaks nationally during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game tonight on NBC. The ad features Mr. Bennett singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” during what appears to be a biographical documentary.  However, the camera suddenly pulls back to reveal that Mr. Bennett is actually singing in a CD store, trying to use his unforgettable voice as ID for a check purchase. VISA said it made its choice for Mr. Bennett because he is not only popular with older fans and “Baby Boomers,” he has also struck a cord with music lovers in their 20’s and 30’s. Since 1994, the number of financial institutions issuing the ‘VISA Check Card’ has quadrupled to 5,681.

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BancTec Supplytec

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InterWorld Corporation, a provider of enterprise-class Internet commerce software systems, Monday announced that BancTec, Inc. has launched its premier online office supply store (), powered by InterWorld’s award-winning Commerce Exchange system. Installed primarily as an alternate channel for expediting BancTec customer purchases, SupplyTec is also open to the general public.

“Quality service and convenience are priorities with our customers,” said Joey Petruzella, vice president of marketing, BancTec. “With InterWorld’s mission-critical Commerce Exchange system, our customers can now access our product line quickly and place orders easily. BancTec is very excited to be working with InterWorld to further develop this new customer-focused solution as part of our ongoing e-commerce strategy.”

Visitors to the SupplyTec site will find four main areas through which they can browse, including:

— BancTec Equipment Supplies — carries products specific to BancTec machines such as their checkmending and currency handling equipment, remittance workstations, scanners, sorters, and teller terminals.

— Business Forms — offers custom forms for banking and business, along with labels, envelopes, and miscellaneous paper products.

— General Supplies — a catch-all category where users can find fax machines, copiers and printers, along with their consumables; various media such as zip drives and disks, along with diskettes, data cartridges and cassettes; computer accessories such as keyboards and cables; office furniture; tool kits; workstation accessories; and just about anything else that’s home-business or office related.

— Promotional Products — lets users order from a variety of promotional items with custom messages and company logos, or to choose shirts, caps, pens, golf items, and other necessities with the BancTec logo.

First-time users will be asked to register when making a purchase. Password protection ensures confidentiality. Current BancTec customers have the option of purchasing through a Purchase Order or credit card, while other customers may use their credit cards. Online credit card security is handled through Verisign.

About BancTec

BancTec is a diversified systems integration and services company specializing in automated applications solutions for the banking, financial services, insurance, healthcare, government, utility, telecommunications and retail industries. The company is also a leading provider of document workflow and imaging software products, network support services for local area networks and personal computers, and document processing equipment for OEM customers. BancTec employs more than 4,000 people worldwide and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Pricing on supplytec.com is applicable to all orders from North America. For pricing outside of North America, pricing on special-order products, or general questions, sales representatives can be reached at 1-800-221-9965 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday. In Europe, call +44 (1753) 77 88 99. In Japan, call 81-3-5434-2411. In Asia Pacific/Australia, call +61 2 9954-5099.

About InterWorld

InterWorld Corporation provides enterprise-class Internet commerce software for sales, order management, logistics and customer service. The company develops, markets, and licenses high-performance, mission-critical enterprise commerce applications focused on the selling chain. InterWorld’s products have been adopted by Global 2000 corporations, manufacturers, retailers, commerce service providers, software and hardware vendors, electronic merchants, resellers, distributors, and governmental authorities. Founded in 1995, InterWorld is a privately-held company headquartered in New York, NY, with offices in major U.S. cities as well as Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. For more information, visit InterWorld’s World Wide Web site at or telephone 1-877-ECOMMERCE.

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CyberCash Expands Network

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With electronic commerce continuing to grow exponentially, CyberCash, Inc., the world leader in secure payment technologies and services, announced Monday that CyberCash has teamed with UUcom Inc. to design and implement a network expansion and upgrade CyberCash’s Internet architecture and operational facilities. CyberCash has implemented the expansion in order to meet the dramatic projected growth in demand. In addition, CyberCash has made an equity investment in UUcom as a key technology provider and Internet engineering leader in the high-tech arena.

As CyberCash continues to expand its merchant base and transaction volume in the electronic commerce marketplace, UUcom will work with CyberCash to enhance its Internet architecture, and upgrade its operating networks and facilities. The new architectural framework will enable CyberCash to meet the increasing demands on its systems resulting from the growth in transactions and customers. UUcom will also help CyberCash improve its communication network to increase speed and make it more fault-tolerant, thus producing measurable improvements in quality of service for customers.

“We are committed to offering our customers the best quality of service available,” stated Jim Condon, Chief Operating Officer for CyberCash, Inc. “As the e-commerce marketplace takes off, we must ensure that we are a step ahead in both offering cutting edge technologies and building out the underlying network. The Company’s investments in our network and in UUcom underscore the importance of meeting our customers’ requirements for high-performance service. UUcom has been instrumental in helping us pave the way in meeting and exceeding our customers needs.”

CyberCash’s investment in UUcom is intended primarily to establish stronger ties between the companies. CyberCash believes the relationship will be very useful in the future by providing ready access to world-class technical services. In addition, UUcom is working increasingly with Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which are an important sales channel for CyberCash’s merchant products and services.

UUcom’s experience with both commercial and government clients has kept it at the forefront of Internet technology from the pioneering days of the Arpanet and Milnet to the current Internet explosion. UUcom’s experience brings CyberCash innovative, cost-effective networking solutions.

“Since we began our work with CyberCash, it has already begun to see results in its overall quality of service,” said Lou Scanlan, Chief Executive Officer for UUcom. “We believe our work together will continue to provide further strides in the Company’s service offerings as it continues to grow with the e-commerce market.”

About UUcom, Inc.

UUcom, Inc., headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is one of the premier Internet engineering companies in the country today. The company provides superior Internet working and electronic commerce solutions to Fortune 500 companies in today’s technology based business environment.

UUcom has designed and engineered Internet backbones for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to Internet Service Providers as well as entire countries. As an integral component to its Internet engineering expertise, UUcom is heavily involved in the development and deployment of state-of-the-art e-commerce and mission critical Internet business solutions.

In 1997, UUcom qualified as a “Fast 50” company (one of the top 50 fastest growing companies in the Greater Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia region) as well as this year’s prestigious Alexandria Virginia Technology Achievement Award. Most recently, UUcom was also selected as a finalist in the Ernst & Young Greater Washington Entrepreneur of the Year Award. UUcom was founded in 1988 and operates as a private company.

About CyberCash, Inc.

CyberCash, is the world leader in secure, convenient payment technologies and services, enabling e-commerce across the entire market spectrum from electronic retailing environments to the Internet.

CyberCash provides a complete line of software products and services allowing merchants, billers, financial institutions and consumers to conduct secure transactions using the broadest array of popular payment forms. Credit, debit, purchase cards, cash, checks, smart cards and alternative payment types (e.g., “frequent buyer” or loyalty programs ) are all supported by CyberCash payment solutions. Leading brands of CyberCash include ICVERIFY, PCVERIFY, CashRegister, NetVERIFY, CyberCoin and PayNow.

For financial institutions, software developers and integrators, commerce and Internet service providers, and technology partners, CyberCash solutions are the preferred choice, offering unmatched ease and flexibility in integrating payment capabilities into value-added offerings to customers.

CyberCash, Inc., headquartered in Reston, Virginia, USA, maintains a global presence with offices and joint ventures operating throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

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