Edify Wins Chase Contract; Bank Picks Its Software For Banking on the

Chase Manhattan Corp. has chosen Edify Corp. software for Web-based banking services.

Chase, the nation's largest banking company, has a home page on the Internet but offers transactional banking services only through a proprietary network.

Once Edify's Electronic Banking System software is installed, Chase customers will be able to use the Web to get account balances, make transfers, and pay bills.

"It is critical for us to deliver compelling and personalized Web banking services that are readily accessible by our on-line banking customers," said Carl Morales, executive vice president of Chase.

Michael Papantoniou, vice president of electronic commerce at Chase, said the deal would bring "a flexible, modular architecture that allows us to plug and play."

The Chase officials declined to talk about the bank's financial terms with Edify.

William A. Soward, director of financial applications marketing for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Edify, called the contract "a significant win for us." Edify was one of 10 technology vendors Chase considered.

Mr. Soward said the version of the Electronic Banking System Chase has licensed is written for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT platform.

"We have redesigned all our technology so that it is optimized for Windows NT and Microsoft Back Office," Mr. Soward said. "We're betting our company on Microsoft."

The Electronic Banking System is designed to let banks deliver personalized service, including marketing messages aimed at specific customers.

Chase also has licensed the updated version of Electronic Work Force, the application server software that sits between the bank's Web server and back-office systems.

Mr. Soward said Edify's principal competitor in Web banking technology is Atlanta-based Security First Technologies.

Technology providers, such as NCR Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp., use Edify software to deliver outsourced Web banking services.

Eight of the top 100 banks and 30 regional and community banks have licensed Edify's Web-banking system.

In addition to the planned Edify-based services, Chase offers home banking through personal financial management software, such as Microsoft Corp.'s Money and Intuit Inc.'s Quicken.

Chase, like many banks, is installing more Windows NT systems.

In May the bank hired More Inc., a 20-employee company based in New Mexico, to upgrade 6,000 teller stations from DOS and Unix to the NT platform. A pilot is planned for this year and full installation in early 1998.

"Because the Windows NT computing environment is a key component to our overall strategy, we are excited about the arrival of the new EBS product," Mr. Morales said.

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