JEPI Press Release
Oct 15 1996
World Wide Web Consortium and CommerceNet Announce Major Step Toward Resolving Industry-wide Internet Payment Challenge
Completed JEPI Specifications Provide Standard Way for Web Browsers and Servers to Negotiate Payment Transactions Via the Internet
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, USA -- October 15, 1996 -- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and CommerceNet today announced that the specifications for Joint Electronic Payments Initiative or JEPI has been completed and that several run-time scenarios are available. JEPI provides a universal payment platform that will allow merchants and consumers to transact business over the Internet using many different forms of payment.
The W3C and CommerceNet have been developing the JEPI specifications with industry leaders - including Microsoft, IBM, OpenMarket, GC Tech, CyberCash, Xerox, British Telecommunications and Digital - who are implementing the Internet payment negotiation protocol in their systems.
"One of the major ingredients needed for Web commerce is the ability for different payment instruments and protocols to exchange information. We are enthusiastic about JEPI because it effectively addresses this need," said Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Web Consortium and creator of the World Wide Web. "Together with CommerceNet, we are committed to accelerating the feasibility and ease of electronic commerce."
"Interoperability of payment systems and security is essential to the ability to create open, digital marketplaces on the Internet," said Dr. J Tannenbaum, Chairman and CEO of CommerceNet.
According to Daniel Dardailler, W3C, Project Manager for JEPI, since not all merchants accept all forms of payment and transport mechanisms, the Internet needs a standard way through which applications can negotiate the appropriate payment methods. Both CommerceNet and the W3C are working diligently to simplify the technical side of negotiations payment, creating negotiation and linkage mechanisms that are sufficiently flexible to accommodate a wide range of payment instruments, data flows, transport mechanisms, and external hardware interfaces.
"Both CommerceNet and the W3C are dedicated to working together on the development and adoption of key technology components needed to transform the Internet into a worldwide electronic commerce infrastructure," said Randall Whiting, Vice President, General Manager of electronic commerce at CommerceNet "This project is exciting and critically important for CommerceNet because it starts to overcome a substantial barrier to the development of digital markets on the Net."
JEPI is a standard mechanism for web clients and servers to negotiate payment instrument, protocol, and transport between one another. JEPI consists of two parts: an extension layer that "sits" on top of http known as - Protocol Extensions Protocol (PEP), which was submitted to IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standards body earlier this summer; and Universal Payment Preamble (UPP), the negotiations protocol that identifies appropriate payment methodology. These protocols make payment negotiations automatic for end users, happening at the moment of purchase based on configurations within the browser.
For more information on JEPI, please see the JEPI Web page on the W3C site at http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Payments.
World Wide Web Consortium
The W3C was created to develop common standards for the evolution of the World Wide Web. It is an industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) in the USA; the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) in France responsible for Europe; and Keio University in Japan responsible for Asia. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users; reference code implementations to embody and promote standards; and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date over 150 organizations are Members of the Consortium.
CommerceNet,
with headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., is a unique business development and research organization recognized as an industry leader working to transform the Internet into a global electronic marketplace. Launched in April 1994, the Silicon Valley-based organization provides a variety of electronic commerce -oriented business and technology services for over 175 members worldwide, including leading banks, telecommunications companies, Internet service providers, online services, computer manufacturers, software providers and end-users. More information about CommerceNet can be obtained by calling (415) 617-8790, sending e-mail to info@commerce.net, or visiting CommerceNet's Internet site at http://www.commerce.net.
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
Now in its third decade, MIT LCS is dedicated to the invention, development and understanding of information technologies expected to drive substantial technical and socio-economic change. The LCS has helped information technology grow from a mere curiosity to 10 percent of the industrial world's economies by its pioneering efforts in interactive computing, computer networking, distributed systems and public key cryptography. LCS members and alumni have started some thirty companies and have pioneered the Nubus, the X-Window System, the RSA algorithm, the Ethernet and spreadsheets.
INRIA
Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, is a public-sector scientific institute charged with conducting both fundamental and applied research, and with transferring research results to industry. INRIA is made up of five Research Units located at Rocquencourt (near Paris), Rennes, Sophia Antipolis, Nancy and Grenoble. Areas of current research include information processing, advanced high speed networking, structured documents, and scientific computation.
Keio University
Keio University is one of Japan's foremost computer science research centers and universities. It is one of the oldest private universities in Japan, and has five major campuses around Tokyo. Keio University has been promoting joint research projects in cooperation with industry, government and international organizations, and is now becoming one of the research leaders for the network and digital media technology.
Further information on the World Wide Web Consortium is available via the Web at (http://www.w3.org/).
Contact America: Contact Europe: Hazel Kochocki Andrew Lloyd & Associates The Weber Group +33 1 43 22 79 56 Sylvie Baranger (617) 661-7900 +44 127 367 5100 (617) 661-0024 (fax) Aaron Feigin Fleishman Hilliard (415) 356-1033
