ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250063
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
AT&T Corp., shifting its Internet strategy, on Monday formed a company with Industry.Net to run its on-line information and transaction services for businesses.
The new company, Nets Inc., will be led by Industry.Net's chief executive, Jim Manzi, and take responsibility for both the AT&T Business Network and Industry.Net sites on the World Wide Web.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. It does not affect AT&T's consumer-targeted Internet service called AT&T WorldNet, which became available in March.
It is at least the fourth on-line business service AT&T has attempted in the past two years. Its minority stake in Nets Inc. gives AT&T a graceful way to exit if business doesn't meet its expectations.
AT&T turned the business-targeted portion of the Interchange service it has acquired into a World Wide Web-based service called AT&T Business Network. Subscribers can find financial news and information and links to thousands of businesses that have created their own Web sites.
Industry.Net focuses on connecting manufacturing businesses to customers. It has more than 4,500 suppliers who pay $3,000 to $200,000 annually so prospective buyers can see electronic catalogs of their products.
Manzi said Nets Inc. will focus first on getting more businesses to use both Industry.Net and AT&T Business Network and then work on facilitating electronic transactions for its customers.
``Meshing those two together may prove difficult,'' said Mary Modahl, analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. ``They have to figure out what are we? An information provider? A transaction service? Presumably they'll become some blend of the two.''
Manzi, former chief executive of Lotus Development Corp., joined Industry.Net last fall, a few months after IBM acquired Lotus.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB