WebSphere Payment Manager Adds AS/400 Support

  • 05/22/2000
First announced late last year to run on AIX, Windows NT and Sun Solaris, IBM has released WebSphere Payment Managerformerly Payment Servertransaction management software for the AS/400, offering a number of new features designed to handle a broader range of payment processing functions.

WebSphere Payment Manager for AS/400, part of IBM’s WebSphere Commerce product suite, allows payment hosting capabilities for service providers to link merchants with payment processors to allow easier processing of online transactions. The software also helps Internet service providers (ISPs), commerce service providers (CSPs), application service providers (ASPs), banks, and other businesses to manage payments from e-commerce Web sites. Payment Manager uses IBM’s WebSphere Application Server functions for security and servlet support. While Payment Server was geared toward servicing individual companies, Payment Manager 2.1“is oriented towards creating an application that payment servers can use to provide payment processes for multiple merchants,” said to Jeff Sumner, market manager for IBM Payment Suite in an earlier interview with MIDRANGE Systems.

Payment Manager allows service providers to securely link merchants and payment processors. The updated version gives providers the ability to host a payment service for multiple remote merchants, while guarding against any attempt by individual merchants working with the same provider to gain access to any other’s transactions. Payment manager will also help ease consumers’ minds with enhanced security systems for credit card, debit card or stored smart card transactions. In addition, the new version’s Multipayment Framework (MPF) can be adapted to process new payment methods. As part of the WebSphere product family, Payment Manager is meant to be a step in developing an overall e-business strategy.

"WebSphere Payment Manager for AS/400 serves as a security-enhanced cash register on the Internet, designed to allow merchants to quickly move into the lucrative area of online credit and debit card transactions," says Patrice Mitchell, IBM VP of AS/400 strategy.

In addition to providing the capability to host a payment service for multiple merchants, the new version offers service providers improved security for storing business and customer data, and a Multipayment Framework (MPF) for adding new payment methods to the system and deploying real-time payment authorization. For merchants, enhanced features in version 2.1 include multilanguage/multicurrency support and the ability to integrate payments into business processes and software such as online catalogs and accounting packages.

“This is the first product to be repackaged in the WebSphere Commerce Suite. Over time, we will be moving our other e-commerce applications into the WebSphere Commerce Suite,” Sumner says. “There are a number of benefits: It leverages the application server, it’s packaged with the application server and future versions of this product will take better advantage of the WebSphere Application Server. We deal with large and small companies who say they want to be able to turn this kind of application over to service providers, and this gives them that freedom.”

To simplify installation and implementation, the software is packaged with the IBM DB2 Universal Database, IBM HTTP Server and IBM WebSphere Application Server.

Related Editorial:

  • Payment Manager Added to IBM WebSphere Family

    Related Information:

  • IBM WebSphere Page (new window)

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