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For press information, contact:

Lisa Croel
Edelman Technology Communications
Phone:  (415) 968-4033
Fax:  (415) 968-2201
MCI Mail:  629-8643 or Lisa_Croel@mcimail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CommerceNet Makes Electronic Commerce over the Internet 
a Reality in Silicon Valley

New Infrastructure for Electronic Commerce on the Internet Enables 
Companies to Streamline Procurement, Cut Costs, Shrink Development 
Cycles and Communicate More Effectively 

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 12, 1994 PP CommerceNet, the first 
large-scale market trial of electronic commerce on the Internet, 
will be formally launched today by BARRNet, Enterprise Integration 
Technologies (EIT), and Stanford University's Center for 
Information Technology (CIT) at an event here at the Techmart.  The 
event will include the first public demonstration of CommerceNet, 
which goes "live" on the Internet today, offering Silicon 
Valley-based companies access to services and applications that 
make the Internet suitable for electronic commerce.

Many of the companies who have indicated an interest in 
participating in the CommerceNet market trial will be on hand at 
today's event to show their support and to discuss the potential 
impact of CommerceNet on the way they transact business (see page 
6).  In addition, representatives from sponsoring organizations 
including Smart Valley, Inc., Joint Venture:Silicon Valley Network 
and the State of California Trade and Commerce Agency were present 
to discuss the potential economic impact of CommerceNet on the 
local economy and on business.

CommerceNet was created and is operated by a consortium of major 
Silicon Valley users, providers and developers.  It seeks to 
revolutionize the Valley's core electronics, software and 
information service industries by making interactions between 
customers, suppliers and development partners as efficient as 
interactions among internal departments.  CommerceNet will 
ultimately help to revolutionize the way most Bay Area companies 
transact business, regardless of their size or business focus.

CommerceNet's founders and supporters believe that the new 
electronic marketplace will benefit participating companies by:  
Shortening procurement cycles up to 80% through online catalogs, 
ordering and payment; cutting costs up to 10% on both stock and 
manufactured parts through competitive bidding; and shrinking 
development cycles up to 50% and accelerating time-to-market 
through collaborative engineering and product implementation.

"The Internet is a vast, untapped marketplace," said Jay M. 
Tenenbaum, Chairman and founder of EIT and the visionary behind 
CommerceNet.  "With over 20 million users, the Internet is the 
biggest and most immediate venue for electronic commerce.  
CommerceNet provides the tools that will make the Internet secure 
and easy to use, 'unleashing' its potential to transform how 
business is done."

An outgrowth of ARPA-sponsored research begun in the 1960's, the 
Internet was originally used by colleges, universities and the 
government for research and development purposes.  It has since 
evolved to become "the network of networks," interconnecting not 
just government and education, but a huge portion of the commercial 
business sector as well.  Today, the Internet links over 20,000 
public and private networks encompassing over 20 million users in 
nearly 140 countries, and it is growing ten percent a month.

Several factors have kept the Internet from facilitating electronic 
commerce until now.  They include:  The lack of standard and 
easy-to-use interfaces; the lack of a secure means for transmitting 
sensitive data or identifying users; and the lack of indexing and 
search mechanisms that make it easy for users to find information.

"We evaluated all of the barriers to electronic commerce on the 
Internet and then came up with what we believe are excellent 
solutions that break down most of these barriers," said Allan M. 
Schiffman, Chief Technical Officer of EIT and Principal Architect 
of CommerceNet.  "CommerceNet will win over many skeptics who 
thought electronic commerce either wasn't possible over the 
Internet, or was years away from becoming a reality." 

Specifically, CommerceNet provides an integrated set of services 
from a single source, including: 

%  Affordable, high quality Internet connectivity using a variety 
of connectivity options including T1, 56K, Frame Relay and ISDN.  
Many are available immediately; others 	will be rolled out during 
the remainder of 1994.

%  Easy access to user interface and networking software and 
registration forms for CommerceNet access.

%  Software tools for providers that make it easy to put up 
interactive CommerceNet services on any Internet host.

%  Simple point-and-click access to all CommerceNet services using 
an enhanced version of Mosaic, a popular hypermedia user interface 
from the NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications).  
Mosaic supports full multimedia presentations, 	including audio, 
video, text and graphics, as well as electronic forms.  

%  A variety of specialized directories to help users locate 
information and services on CommerceNet.  These directories, as 
with other CommerceNet services, can be browsed or searched for 
keywords using Mosaic.

%  Security mechanisms, including authentication and encryption, 
supported within applications, including Mosaic, using RSA public 
key cryptography.  Public-key certification services will also be 
provided to CommerceNet members.

Buyers and sellers will be able to meet on the network and safely 
exchange sensitive information such as credit card numbers and bid 
amounts, sign legally enforceable contracts, maintain audit trails, 
and get paid through cooperating financial institutions.

Data and transmission security issues are minimized on CommerceNet 
because there are no remote logins and private information such as 
passwords is transmitted under encryption.  Digital signatures 
ensure that important information is delivered uncorrupted and 
untampered.

Secure client and server products will be available for beta 
testing in May of this year; widespread release will follow in 
August.

Participating companies are expected to use CommerceNet to provide 
customers with online catalogs, product literature, and ordering.  
Job shops will provide online access to engineering and 
manufacturing services that are faster, cheaper, or better than 
those available in-house.  Companies will also use CommerceNet for 
competitive solicitations and bidding, interactive EDI, and 
inter-company collaborative engineering and product data exchange.

The Commerce.Net Server

The CommerceNet server, which acts as the hub of CommerceNet, 
provides users access to all CommerceNet-related information and 
applications via the World Wide Web, a general purpose architecture 
for information retrieval developed by groups of Internet users.  
Information about CommerceNet is also available via electronic 
mail.

The CommerceNet server hosts:  Information on the CommerceNet 
organization; directories of participants, value-added third-party 
services and Internet resources; member registration and 
communications; and tutorials and examples.  The server is also a 
principal distribution channel for CommerceNet software.

Like the Internet, CommerceNet is open to all.  Any individual or 
organization can offer information, goods and services by creating 
a multimedia "home page" on their own server and listing it in 
appropriate directories on the CommerceNet server, as well as with 
value-added directories and referral services operated by third 
parties.  These home pages serve as "virtual storefronts," 
providing brief company overviews and paths for accessing their 
product literature, catalogs, order forms, etc.  CommerceNet is 
thus a fully distributed network of information service providers 
whose growth is essentially unbounded.  The CommerceNet server is 
merely a convenient starting point for entering this marketplace.

The CommerceNet Consortium

CommerceNet is operated by the CommerceNet Consortium, a non-profit 
corporation funded by a six million dollar, three year grant from 
the United States government's Technology Reinvestment Project, 
which will be matched by contributions from the State of California 
and member companies.

The Consortium consists of the core development team members, 
sponsoring organizations, and industry participants.

The core team is comprised of BARRNet, EIT and Stanford CIT.  They 
have been responsible for developing and operating CommerceNet and 
securing its funding, and will oversee the day-to-day management of 
CommerceNet, led by the organization's new executive director, 
Cathy J. Medich.

The sponsoring organizations PP Smart Valley, Inc., Joint 
Venture:Silicon Valley Network, and the State of California Office 
of Strategic Technology PP were instrumental in raising 
CommerceNet's visibility with the State and Federal Government.  
They continue to support the efforts of CommerceNet and other 
initiatives that improve the competitive and business environment 
in Northern California.

The following industry participants, in alphabetical order, have 
indicated their interest in CommerceNet:  Amdahl Corporation, 
Anthem Electronics, Inc., Apple Computer, Inc., AVEX Electronics 
Inc., Bank of America, Citibank N.A., Dataquest, Digital Equipment 
Corporation, Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, Electronic Marketplace 
Systems, Inc. (An International Data Group Company), 
Hewlett-Packard Company, Integrated Systems Solutions Corporation 
(A Subsidiary of IBM), Intel Corporation, Internet Shopping 
Network, InterNex Information Services, Inc., Lockheed Missiles & 
Space Company, Inc., Nanothinc, A California Corporation, National 
Semiconductor, Network Computing Devices, Inc. (NCD), Pacific Bell, 
PartNet, Inc., RSA Data Security, Inc., Solectron Corporation, Sun 
Microsystems, Inc., Synopsys Inc., Tandem Computers Incorporated, 
Trusted Information Systems, Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and Xerox 
Corporation.

Other affiliated organizations that are participating in 
CommerceNet include:  the Association of Bay Area Governments, the 
California Department of General Services, the Commercial Internet 
eXchange Association, the Financial Services Technology Consortium 
(FSTC), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Silicon Valley 
Public Access Link (SV-PAL).

Information on how to participate in CommerceNet can be obtained by 
calling (415) 617-8790, by sending e-mail to info@commerce.net, and
by connecting to http://www.commerce.net/.