Netlife provides e-payment solutions for Hong Kong's inter-Merchant

Hong Kong-based inter-Merchant develops multilingual e-commerce storefronts for individual merchants and dot-coms which host shopping malls using the recently released HOSTING edition of inter-Merchant's software. Individual merchants use Netlife POS as their payment solution, while Netlife ServerPOS provides the payment engine for the shopping mall environment.

inter-Merchant is a member of The Web Connection. inter-Merchant software is the first-ever multi-lingual, business-to-business/business-to-consumer, e-commerce application for the Asian market, specially developed to exploit the full capabilities of Pentium llI.

"inter-Merchant's customers now have the option to offer real-time transactions through Netlife's reputable solutions according to the needs and nature of their business," said Tanbir Rahman, Managing Director of inter-Merchant. "Through this partnership, inter-Merchant offers its customers the highest level of online security combined with the latest transaction technology."

Netlife POS software enables secure credit card transactions between merchants, customers and financial institutions on the Internet. It takes orders from credit card holders, generates payment authorisations, initiates credit-worthiness checks and generates confirmations for the customer.

Netlife ServerPOS is a server-based solution targeted at merchant aggregators such as acquiring banks, financial institutions, third party processors, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Commerce Service Providers (CSPs) and large merchants. It provides them with the scalability needed to sustain high volumes of concurrent transactions and the ability to support large numbers of physically distributed or locally hosted merchants in a centralised environment. Netlife ServerPOS makes it easy for the merchant to set up its e-commerce store without the need to become proficient in hosting and managing Internet payment systems.

Both Netlife POS and ServerPOS are SET-certified and support payments using either Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) and new payment methods and services as they become available. They also provide merchants with a transparent migration path to SET, allowing for secure transactions with encryption and authentication.

"By using Netlife POS and Netlife ServerPOS, inter-Merchant's customers are guaranteed secure and confidential online payment transactions," said Ng Kee Kit, Managing Director of Netlife Hong Kong. "As e-business takes off in Asia, an increasing number of companies are developing storefront applications and finding that Netlife's e-payment technology is proven and provides the best in terms of ease of deployment, scalability, robustness and security."

inter-Merchant's HOSTING application features Japanese-language capabilities, to go with its existing English and Simplified/Traditional Chinese. It also offers a universal shopping basket, membership clubs, store templates, surveys and other features designed to create exciting online e-commerce communities.

About Netlife
Founded in 1996, Hamburg-based Netlife is a leading provider of electronic business solutions for banks, merchants, brokerages, insurance and other financial institutions. The company's leading solutions are Netlife Multi Business System (MBS) and Netpay, a SET-certified Internet payment suite. MBS is a universal platform which enables secure e-business transactions over non-traditional media, including the Internet and mobile networks.

Netpay allows certification authorities, banks, merchants and consumers simple, secure and authenticated Internet transactions. The Netpay product range consists of Netlife ServerWallet, Netlife POS, Netlife ServerPOS, Netlife Payment Gateway and Netlife CA (Certificate Authority).

About inter-Merchant
Aimed primarily at Asian companies, offering English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese capabilities, inter-Merchant is the affordable entry point to e-commerce, enabling small and medium sized enterprises to maximize their business potential by harnessing the power of the Internet.

The Web Connection brings together a rare blend of core competencies - digital strategy, technology integration, creative design and integrated marketing - which represent the core ingredients of a winning e-business solution. Established in 1995, the Web Connection offers strategic Internet solutions for major corporations and dot-com startups that recognize the power of the Internet as a business platform and customer relationship management channel.

Major clients include HKTA, HSBC, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, KLM, FIA and Cisco Systems. The Web Connection has over 250 staff across Asia with offices in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, and is part of China.com Corporation [Nasdaq: CHINA], Asia's leading comprehensive, integrated Internet business.