ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090038
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
AT&T Co. bolstered its services to help businesses sell on the Internet Tuesday, promising to protect them from missed orders and insuring buyers whose credit card numbers are stolen by hackers.
The SecureBuy Service is designed to convince more businesses to hire AT&T to design, set up and manage their sites on the World Wide Web, the most popular section of the Internet.
``We're going to make it easy for consumers to buy from your Web sites and to feel secure in doing so,'' AT&T Chairman Robert Allen told an audience of business people at an AT&T Internet trade show. ``Our marketing programs will attract customers to your sites and make buyers out of browsers.''
Internet services are part of AT&T's strategy to expand beyond its traditional long distance telephone business, which has been losing customers for years to competitors like Sprint Corp. and MCI Communications Corp.
Those competitors, in addition to IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., and other smaller technology companies, have similar Internet services, but Allen said AT&T's are now the most extensive.
Internet commerce is in its infancy, but AT&T and its competitors expect it to grow dramatically in the next few years.
As a result, technology companies see big money in helping others do business.
Earlier this year, AT&T introduced services that help companies design the graphics, audio and video promotions they need to tout their wares on the Web..
AT&T will use encryption technology to safeguard credit card numbers, but guarantees that if any number is used fraudulently, the consumer will be reimbursed. (Most credit card companies already offer such guarantees, except for the first $50 or so.)
AT&T also promises that all sites will be available 24 hours a day, even in times of heavy buying. If a business misses an electronic order, it will get a refund, up to a maximum of its monthly fee to AT&T.
The service will cost between $500 and $1,000 to start, depending on how long a business commits. Monthly fees will be $395 to $595. The first 500 transactions are free, after which they will cost $3 to $4 each.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP AT&T Chairman Robert Allen and artist Carylby CNBFelicetta check out some of her design work on an Internet Web
site.