Web Hosting News - Bell Canada to provide eCommerce Services to BCE Emergis

[NewsDesk]

BCE Emergis Inc. (TSE: IFM) announced today that it has signed a number of key agreements with Bell Canada for the provision of advanced eCommerce services.

The result will be to significantly increase both the breadth and the nature of services being offered through the Bell channel.

Under these agreements, Emergis will offer secure, state-of-the-art eCommerce services. Emergis will supply the security application layer to the advanced Bell Virtual Private Network (VPN) offering. In addition, it will include, in the bundled service, its high level BCE Emergis Business Network (BEBN). Through this combination, customers will receive a newer, more advanced value-added service offering.

The agreements with Bell Canada relate to the delivery of eCommerce network-centric services through the Bell channel as part of BCE's convergence strategy. Included in these services are solutions that will provide the following capabilities: common infrastructure application; online web-based customer care; web-based management of marketing processes; small, medium and large enterprise web-based automation of ordering, invoicing and payment functions; and enablement services to support suppliers and buyers for electronic procurement. These solutions will provide Bell Canada with leading-edge eCommerce services to offer to its business customer base.

Emergis will realize guaranteed revenues of $315 million over three years. Emergis will also have the opportunity to generate growing transactional revenue as a result of the security and convergence deployments. For 2002, forecasted revenue from all these agreements is $132 million. While guaranteed revenues will progressively decline in the second and third years of the agreement, Emergis will benefit from the opportunity to derive additional revenue from what it expects to be a growing market demand for these security services and convergence solutions.

"These agreements are important for Emergis in many respects. We signed the initial IP connectivity agreement three years ago, stating that connectivity would not be a future core service for Emergis. Today, with these agreements, we have moved to offering advanced eCommerce security offerings as part of the convergence solutions which will allow us to further build our revenue base, as demand for secure and managed e-commerce services increases," enthused Brian Edwards, Vice-Chairman & CEO, BCE Emergis. "Without a doubt, this partnership further strengthens our channel distribution strategy as well as our relationship with our Bell partners."

Karen Sheriff, Chief Marketing Officer of Bell Canada, stated, "With this agreement, Bell Canada is delivering on its commitments to provide superior IP based network-centric solutions and services. It is yet another proof point that customers can only benefit from the combination of Emergis' leadership in the eCommerce arena and Bell Canada's expertise in delivering high-powered connectivity."

This announcement highlights the convergent strengths of the players. Bell Canada enhances its offering in the area of connectivity and will have responsibility for the BEBN network - which enables enterprises to connect with its partners and exchange data in a secure IP-based environment - operating it, supporting any investment it requires and managing and expanding its customer base. Emergis brings its expertise in secure eCommerce and in network-centric solutions to bear on the value proposition. These include, among others, its best-of-breed centralized privilege management solution that affords businesses with a secure portal infrastructure and its customers with personalized and secure automation and enablement services.