Sterling Commerce Inc. has teamed up with Online Resources and Communications Corp. of McLean, Va., to market an electronic banking and bill payment service to small and medium-size banks.
The service, called Vector Online, is a home banking product that lets users conduct banking transactions through a PC, a screen phone, or Online Resource's private network.
By the end of June, the service also should allow users to do banking through the Internet.
"It is specifically for small businesses, but it is also consumer- based," said M.A. Hancook, manager of marketing communications for Sterling.
Sterling, a subsidiary of Sterling Software, supplies 99 of the top 100 U.S. banks with its Vector software. The Vector Online product is meant to allow smaller banks wider access to Sterling's products, Ms. Hancook said.
At Online Resources, which provides interactive services to financial institutions, chief executive officer Matthew P. Lawlor said that working with Sterling will give his company a greater entree to banks that are interested in electronic banking and outsourcing.
"We think they'll open a lot of doors for us," Mr. Lawlor said.
Mr. Lawlor said the partnership with Sterling is "one of a series of very targeted select alliances" that the four-year-old company is making.
