CommerceNet and the World Wide Web Consortium Announce Initiative to Standardize Payment Method Negotiation for the Web; The Joint Electronic Payments Initiative, or JEPI, Brings Industry Leaders Together to Develop a Standard Negotiation Mechanism that Works Across All Web Payment Solutions

Business Wire, April 17, 1996

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 1996-- CommerceNet and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science today announced the formation of the Joint Electronic Payments Initiative (JEPI), a project that addresses the need for a standardized way of negotiating payment methods between browsers and servers on the World Wide Web.

The international JEPI team will develop a negotiation protocol that it plans to demonstrate in September in both Europe and the U.S. Led jointly by the W3C and CommerceNet, JEPI brings together some of the industry's leading companies in a collaborative work environment that is expected to accelerate the adoption and use of Internet payment solutions.

Core participants include CyberCash, the Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC), GC Tech, IBM, Microsoft, Open Market Inc., and the Open Software Foundation (OSF). In addition, VeriFone is playing a key role in the effort. These companies have committed significant personnel resources to the project, as well as financial support.

Within the next six months, JEPI's goal is to: Build a standard mechanism for Web clients and servers to negotiate payment; pilot the new negotiation process in a live market environment; publish the result as an open standard; and then hand-off the results to a recognized standards body for change control.

Besides the core members of JEPI, other participants in the initiative include: Bellcore, BT, Citibank, CUC International, Deloitte & Touche Consulting, First Virtual Holdings, France Telecom, Marshall Industries, the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), NetBill (Carnegie Mellon University), Netscape Communications Corporation, NTT Software Laboratories (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), Nokia, Novell, Oracle, Sligos, Tandem, the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute, VENDAMALL and Zenith Data Systems.

"As much as we would all like to see a single payment solution for Web commerce, the reality is that we are going to have several," said Tom Wills, senior program manager for CommerceNet and co-chair of JEPI.

"Web browsers and servers will have different capabilities, so when it comes time to make payment, they will each have to figure out which methods and protocols the other can handle -- then they will be able to synch up and complete the transaction. JEPI will make this process easier by building a standard mechanism that the browser, server, and payment middleware can plug into."

The JEPI implementation is limited to existing payment instruments and protocols, and most of the companies and organizations involved in the project either currently offer payment systems, client or server software, or have solutions in development.

JEPI participants will have early access to the reference implementation developed, and can apply this code to their own products. The W3C will then make the negotiation reference code widely available to everyone who wants to sell products or services electronically, and will also publish a "lessons learned" white paper upon completion of the project.

"Both of our organizations are dedicated to growing the electronic marketplace, so creating JEPI was our obligation, because without payment solutions, there can be no marketplace," said Jim Miller, JEPI co-chair for the W3C. "By joining forces in terms of both expertise and membership, we can come up with standards for payment negotiation that will build the market opportunity for all players with a vested interested in electronic commerce."

CommerceNet is providing overall project management for JEPI, as well as marketing support. The W3C is providing all technical leadership and implementation support.

Participants are divided into three project teams, each with its own specific deliverable. The teams and deliverables break out as follows: -0-

Browser and Server Vendors: Refine mechanisms for connecting to payment middleware.

Payment Vendors: Test payment middleware in a real-world environment.

Merchants: Test alternative user interface designs to study customer acceptance.

Participating browser, server, and payment systems vendors will incorporate the JEPI protocol into their respective products to allow end-to-end payment. Merchants will run the enabled software at their Web sites and accept payments for a subset of the products or services they offer.

Companies interested in more information about JEPI are encouraged to contact the W3C or CommerceNet.

About W3C

The W3C exists to develop common protocols and reference codes for the evolution of the World Wide Web. It is an industry consortium hosted by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and INRIA, Institut National de Recherch en Informatique en Automatique.

The Consortium provides: A forum for members to discuss and steer the evolution of the Web; expertise in system architecture and protocol design; a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users; reference code implementations to embody and promote protocols; and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate the use of new technology. Membership is open to any organization. At press time, the Consortium comprised over 130 organizations.