CyberCash, Mercantec link e-commerce products

The agreement puts CyberCash's Cash Register 3 payment processing software in a single package with Mercantec's SoftCart. The new product will be sold through Internet service providers to merchants.

"We've agreed to ... have engineers go through and do full integration and testing and have all the capabilities put together, so the merchant does not have to do that," said Maureen Loftus, senior vice president of merchant services at CyberCash. "Saying software is compatible is different than saying it's integrated. Compatible means the user still has to do some engineering to make sure they work together."

Loftus said the two companies had both been examining using ISPs as resellers, so the combination works well. Between them, CyberCash and Mercantec have agreements with at least 85 different ISPs, telcos and Web hosting providers.

The package will be available sometime this quarter, as part of Mercantec's SoftCart software. Pricing for SoftCart is $1,500 at retail, or for a $100 monthly fee through the ISP partners.