Digital Equipment Corp. entered the thickening ranks of companies offering online micropayment solutions, announcing its Millicent e-commerce system at the recent Spring Internet World convention in Los Angeles.

Unlike competitors’ micropayment solutions, Digital wants to put banks in the driver’s seat of its three-part payment solution, which the company is testing internally before launching a public trial in the summer. “Good (Millicent) brokers are organizations that are recognized by consumers and have a high degree of trust” such as banks, said Russ Jones (415.853.2145, rjones@pa.dec.com), a Digital manager involved in the project. Millicent consists of three HTTP-compatible parts: virtual-wallet software consumers use to buy online content worth 1/10 of a cent to $5; merchant server software for accepting payments; and broker server software for handling the transactions. Under the system, a consumer uses a credit card or a debit to their checking account to pay a broker for scrip they can exchange online for information, services, or subscriptions from Millicent-enabled merchants. Merchants collect the scrip and forward it to the brokers, who reimburse them via standard electronic funds transfers or printed checks.

Digital is purposely leaving many details of how the system will be implemented up to its broker partners, which in addition to banks could include Internet service providers, national online services, and outside the United States, government-sanctioned telephone and postal agencies, Jones said. Those details include how a consumer pays for scrip, minimum purchase amounts, minimum per-transaction fees brokers charge merchants, and how often brokers reimburse merchants for scrip turned in. Digital will make its money selling broker and merchant software.

Jones contends Millicent’s decentralized, broker-based structure should make it more attractive to banks than CyberCash’s six-month-old CyberCoin micropayment system. In addition to collecting transaction fees, banks will earn interest on funds held between transactions, he said. By contrast, CyberCash brokers all CyberCoin transactions itself but allows retail banks the opportunity to co-brand its virtual wallet.

Digital has already partnered with Bank of Ireland and Tele Denmark to be brokers for the payment system during a private test this spring among 45,000 Web-enabled Digital employees. The company expects to announce other U.S. banking partners before beginning a public beta test this summer, Jones said.

On the merchant side, Millicent should be attractive to online publishers interested in selling information by the article, and to software publishers looking to sell Java applets and other software on a per-use basis to NC users, according to Digital. Reuters wire service and Web search engine InfoSeek already have signed on as content providers for Millicent trials.

Digital’s Millicent Web site includes a FAQ, online demonstration, glossary, beta test sign-up from, and links to rival micropayment systems.

Digital wasn’t the only company making e-commerce news at Spring Internet World.

Other announcements:
AT&T and Wells Fargo will jointly market AT&T Web-site hosting and transactions services and Wells Fargo online credit-card processing business in a Q2 direct-mail to existing small-business customers. Wells Fargo is the first bank to join an AT&T Marketing Alliance Program, and officials at the telecommunications giant said they are negotiating with others. In a separate announcement, AT&T said it will incorporate Mondex smart-card technology into its SecureBuy e-commerce service for selected merchants this summer before making it widely available in 1998.

Hewlett-Packard, database software publisher Informix and Gemplus, the French smart-card manufacturer, announced the first fruits of a previously announced smart-card partnership, including ImagineCard Web, a secure 512-bit smart card that Web sites can give customers for online shopping, electronic banking and home-based training.

CyberCash was a no-show at Internet World, but the following week announced that ESPN SportsZone would use its CyberCoin system to let Net surfers buy one-day subscriptions for premium services or pay-per-view events on the popular sports Web site. According to a Wall Street Journal report, CyberCash is negotiating a similar deal with Playboy Enterprises, which is expected to launch a subscription-based Web site in March.

Contributing editor Michelle V. Rafter is an Internet columnist for Reuters and the Chicago Tribune. Reach her at mvrafter@deltanet.com.