HP's VeriFone Announces Modular E-PaymentProcessing Applications for New World of E-Services.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 1999--

New Integrated Payment Solution Enables E-Payment From

Retail Countertop to Internet Desktop

To enable payment in the new world of e-services, Hewlett-Packard Company's (NYSE:HWP) VeriFone division today is delivering

Using Internet technologies, this framework and its applications give retailers and financial institutions a common, modular platform that enables the processing of electronic payment from the physical point of sale or the Internet, bridging traditional payments with Internet payments.

Designed to take advantage of new technologies, the IPS framework provides the flexibility of creating any number of payment solutions including secure Internet payment, credit and debit authorization, and settlement and reconciliation. IPS core technology acts as a conduit to enable the seamless exchange of information between payment applications and ensures that new payment applications can be easily plugged into the existing framework.

With the emergence of new forms of payment and value transfer, such as electronic gift cards, electronic benefits transfer, loyalty, and Internet commerce, the ease of adding new applications is critical. Nobel Electronic Transfer, based in Moline, Ill., is a provider of authorization and settlement services to both card issuing and acquiring banks throughout the United States.

Nobel is deploying IPS applications to process authorization requests for credit and debit payment transactions, and is using the IPS technology framework to quickly develop new transaction processing services.

"IPS gives us the best of both worlds," said Todd Davis, president of Nobel Electronic Transfer, IPS customer. "We needed a solution that is designed to meet Nobel's customers' needs today, yet a system flexible for the needs of tomorrow. IPS helps us compete today and far into the next century."

"The changing face of payment at the point of sale and the explosion of Internet commerce have presented new challenges and opportunities for retailers and payment processors," explained Betty Kolanczyk, director, VeriFone Retail/Financial Processing Markets.

"To succeed in this age of rapidly changing technology, organizations need to develop and implement new payment services quickly and economically, and stay ahead of the technology curve -- without abandoning substantial investments in current computing equipment. IPS applications are designed to enable rapid change for a changing marketplace."

Retailers can use IPS to centralize payment processing, or add new payment services. IPS can also facilitate one-to-one marketing by capturing data at the point of sale to merge with other business-wide databases. The IPS framework and applications function seamlessly together to provide intelligent acquisition, formatting and routing of transaction data to bankcard and other electronic funds transfer (EFT) networks.

The flexible architecture also allows retailers and payment processors to keep transaction costs down and simplify integration with a user's existing computer infrastructure.

The IPS framework utilizes the power of new Internet protocols and technologies such as Extensible Markup Language (XML). VeriFone created a Payment Transaction Markup Language (PTML), which allows businesses the flexibility to quickly and affordably test-market new customer programs such as loyalty programs or multi-sequence card transactions.

Also, a Web-browser-based user interface using HTML and Java(TM) gives users a familiar interface for administration and configuration of IPS applications.

IPS utilizes an open HP-UX computing platform and flexible software architecture based on a set of core technologies. Applications interact easily, working together with third party-developed applications. This consistent, integrated framework allows new market-driven payment applications to be developed and deployed quickly and cost-effectively.

The software is modular and can be easily changed so that as business processes change, the IPS framework allows customers to update and modify functions. IPS allows businesses to centralize IT functions, and obtain control and management of key customer data.

About VeriFone

VeriFone (www.verifone.com) is a division of Hewlett-Packard Company and the leading global provider of secure electronic payment solutions for financial institutions, merchants and consumers. VeriFone has shipped more than seven million payment systems used in over 100 countries.

About HP

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 122,800 employees and had revenue of $47.1 billion in its 1998 fiscal year.

Information about HP, its products and the company's Year 2000 program can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

Note to Editors: Java is a U.S. trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.