pna.show_story?p_art_id=376182&p_section_name=Sci-Tech

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

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   [INLINE] October 4, 1997 10:23 pm GMT
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           E-STAMP RECEIVES BIG BACKING FOR NET-BASED POSTAGE SALES
                                       
   InfoWorld
   04-OCT-97
   
   
   Buying stamps for use on "snail mail" soon may be possible over the
   Internet, and one company pioneering the technology to do so has
   caught the attention of both Microsoft and AT&T.
   
   E-Stamp has created a system that will enable users to purchase
   postage over the Internet and then print viable U.S. Postal Service
   stamps onto envelopes.
   
   Recently, both Microsoft and AT&T Ventures announced that they have
   taken an equity stake in E-Stamp. Both companies will receive a 10
   percent stake in the postage sales system's creator, and both will
   hold a seat on its board of directors. Financial details of the
   investment were not disclosed.
   
   "One of the things we're trying to do now is build the industry
   infrastructure by forming strategic partnerships with software,
   hardware, and Internet companies, and we see our relationship with
   Microsoft and AT&T as the first step in this process," said Nicole
   Ward, vice president of marketing for E-Stamp.
   
   The potential for both Microsoft and AT&T to incorporate E-Stamp
   technology into their product lines in the future could be intriguing,
   according to analysts.
   
   "Microsoft could certainly be incorporating the generating technology
   into Office," according to Vernon Keenan, senior analyst for Zona
   Research, in Redwood City, Calif. "I could see clicking a button in
   Word, and when you print out your envelope, you'd get a stamp on it."
   
   "It's certainly conceivable; that's not a scenario that we've
   ignored," said Greg Stanger, director of business development and
   investments for Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash. "The Office team picking
   it up and incorporating it into whatever they're doing is not out of
   the question."
   
   E-Stamp is preparing to beta test the system in San Francisco and
   Washington by the end of the year. Once postage is purchased from the
   U.S. Postal Service over the Internet, the value of the "stamps" will
   be held in an "electronic vault" attached to a PC and printer,
   according to the company.
   
   The Postal Service will monitor the amounts as it currently does with
   postage machines, but Internet postage is a new innovation, according
   to Roy Gordon, program manager of process and product development for
   meter technology management for the U.S. Postal Service, based in
   Washington.
   
   "This is the first new form of postage potentially introduced by the
   postal service in 77 years," Gordon said.
   
   E-Stamp estimates that the complete system will cost less than $300
   per year.
   
   The irony of using the Internet to facilitate the delivery of "snail
   mail" was not lost on analysts.
   
   "It is definitely ironic," said Ray Boggs, director of small-business
   research for IDC/Link, a market research company in New York. "But
   what could be more appropriate than leveraging one technology to
   benefit another?"
   
   E-Stamp Corp., in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at (650) 843-8000
   or http://www.estamp.com.
   
   Article Dated 03-OCT-97
   
   COPYRIGHT 1997 InfoWorld Publishing Company
   
   
   
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