UUNet to host e-commerce

Posted by Webhost - 28/10/96 at 01:10 am

Internet service provider UUNet Technologies today outlined a plan to add an
electronic commerce Web hosting service using Microsoft’s (MSFT) Merchant
Server software.

The offering for firms which have Web sites running on Microsoft’s Windows NT
operating system is designed to help merchants sell on the Net easily and
cost-effectively. It will include shopping cart software, secure transaction
services, optional integration with the merchant’s database, and automatic
electronic payments.

“The combination of Merchant Server together with UUNet’s external Web hosting
will make it easier for people to do commerce,” said Dave Foster, general
manager of UUNet’s Web services business.

Microsoft and UUNet have historically close ties. Microsoft uses UUNet’s
national network for its Microsoft Network online service, and Microsoft helped
finance completion of that infrastructure by investing in UUNet. MFS
Communications (MFST) acquired UUNet in August, and two weeks later MFS agreed
to be acquired for $14.4 billion by WorldCom, a long distance carrier eager to
diversify its offerings. That merger is expected to close in four to eight
months.

UUNet has offered a Unix-based hosting service for 18 months but so far has not
packaged e-commerce offerings on the Unix side. Foster said it is “highly
probable” that such a service will be added. Some UUNet clients are conducting
commerce on Unix machines using Secure Sockets Layer security.

UUNet’s NT service will support a variety of secure payment systems, including
VeriFone’s vPOS merchant software.

Merchant Server is scheduled to be introduced this week at Microsoft’s
developer conference in San Jose, California. It is based on a system Microsoft
acquired when it purchased eShop in June.

No prices have been set for UUNet’s electronic commerce service, which will
become available in December, but an additional fee will be tacked onto
existing NT hosting services. UUNet’s NT hosting starts at $500 monthly for
shared hosting and $3,000 monthly for dedicated hosting, plus start-up costs.

UUNet’s move into Web commerce hosting services follows similar announcements
from AT&T and PSINet earlier this month.

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