Card Briefs: Web Charge Software Cuts Out a Middleman

Nova Corp. and Go Software Inc. announced a set of products for real-time processing of credit card merchant payments over the Internet.

The products-PC-Charge, Win-Charge, Active-Charge, and IP-Charge-require a Windows-based personal computer and use Nova's Transport technology, which provides a way to process encrypted data over the Internet.

Executives said the software helps speed transactions and reduces costs.

Merchants avoid sending the credit card information to a third party before it gets to the processor.

"This results in a more cost-effective and efficient transaction for our merchants," said Pamela Joseph, chief information officer at Nova. "We have made real-time transaction processing over the Internet a reality for our merchants."

"It's like having dedicated, leased-line performance at Internet connection costs," said Bill Pittman, Go Software's chief technology officer.