Headlines:
PeopleSoft Announces 2 Deals
International Business Machines Corp. has agreed to provide its customers with financial management products from PeopleSoft Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif., database software vendor.
PeopleSoft signed its $1 billion five-year contract with IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., last week.
"We've decided to concentrate … on the application side of the business," said Chris Yaldezian, PeopleSoft's director of financial services strategy. IBM will provide the middleware that connects PeopleSoft's applications to the systems that IBM's clients have in place.
The same day the IBM deal was announced, PeopleSoft also announced that its financial management and customer relationship management software has been incorporated into a core processing product from i-flex solutions ltd., a Bombay banking software developer and technology outsourcer.
Mr. Yaldezian said banks are starting to replace decades-old core banking systems, especially in Europe, so there are opportunities for both PeopleSoft and i-flex. PeopleSoft currently has no other core banking partner, he said.
Though the IBM deal is a billion-dollar vote of confidence in PeopleSoft, Mr. Yaldezian said it will not have a direct effect on Oracle Corp.'s hostile attempt to take over PeopleSoft. "IBM is not the white knight," he said.
Check Service via Cell Phones
Justchex LLC, a provider of check verification and services, has introduced a verification service that uses the text messaging function of mobile phones.
Richard McShirley, the Oxnard, Calif., company's vice president of business development, said this month that the "chexmessaging" service differs from other verification services, because it requires no software or equipment, just a mobile phone.
The service, introduced in August, is designed for businesses that accept checks remotely, such as plumbers, restaurants, and locksmiths.
To use the service, a merchant enters a check's routing and transit numbers into a mobile phone as a text message. Justchex verifies the information against its own checkwriter database and national verification databases. Justchex charges 25 cents per inquiry.
"It's going to reduce and deter fraud at the point of sale," Mr. McShirley said.
To promote the service, Justchex is offering to share a portion of the service's fees to banks that offer it to its business customers. Justchex has no bank customers for the service yet, but several are evaluating it, he said.
