Mpact Immedia, an electronic data interchange servicer, is the latest player to throw its hat into the electronic commerce ring.
The Montreal-based company said it has created a secure buying service for merchants and suppliers wishing to conduct business on-line.
The service, known as BuyWay, is designed to let consumers shop on-line over the Internet, cable television, and through free-standing kiosks. It also lets connected merchants and suppliers engage in electronic data interchange, which is the electronic exchange of purchase orders and invoices.
Recently launched, BuyWay currently has no users. However, St. Remy Press Inc. and Cogeco Cable, both of Canada, have signed up to use BuyWay in a "cybermall" joint venture.
BuyWay will provide the secure transaction and payment processing to the home shopping service.
Mpact is part of a growing group of banking vendors looking to use their financial servicing experience to cash in on the electronic commerce gold rush.
Mpact cited one reason for the swell of interest in on-line businesses: according to Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass., the market for electronic commerce servicers should be worth about $30 billion in the Unites States alone in the next five years.
"The handling of secure transactions as well as the processing of these transactions over the Internet is just beginning," said W. Brian Edwards, the president and chief executive of Mpact.
Although no banks are tied to the new service, Mpact is working with the Royal Bank of Canada to set up an electronic bill payment system, Mr. Edwards said.
