Tech Bytes: Toyo to Push Terisa's SET Tool Kit in Japan

Spyrus said Toyo Information Systems of Japan has agreed to help market in that country the SecureWeb Payments SET tool kit developed by a Spyrus subsidiary, Terisa Systems Inc.

Toyo, a leading systems integrator for the Japanese financial community, will employ the package to promote use of the Secure Electronic Transactions, or SET, credit card payment protocol for the Internet.

Toyo will also enhance the software with the Japanese Payment Option extension, to comply with national requirements. The special needs of the Japanese market prompted another SET vendor, Verifone Inc., a Hewlett- Packard subsidiary, to form a similar partnership with Japanese computer industry leader NEC Corp.

Terisa, which Spyrus acquired last year, played a key role in the development of SET. The SecureWeb tool kit has been chosen as the basis for compliance testing that vendors must pass in order to display the certification stamp of SETCo, a joint venture of the major credit card companies.

Spyrus/Terisa's SETCo status was instrumental in Toyo's decision, said Yoshiyuki Uenishi, director of the Japanese company's cyber business unit. He called the partnership and availability of SET with the Japanese Payment Option "a key step forward in the deployment and acceptance of SET as the standard for Internet transactions in Japan."