multi-currency online processing centre By Ahmed ElAmin in New York International telecommunications provider Cable & Wireless yesterday officially launched its Bermuda offshore electronic commerce product through which the company hopes to sell processing facilities for businesses looking to go global over the Internet.

The company also revealed a line up of partners, some based in Bermuda, who will provide related services for customers of the $1.6 million facility on the Island. Cable & Wireless has developed what it labels a "one-stop'' shop through which a client can get offshore incorporation, Internet design, transaction processing, hosting, and other related services under one roof.

Speaking before a press conference in New York, Cable & Wireless Bermuda general manager Eddie Saints said the provision of electronic commerce services was part of the company's push to meet the demand for an offshore facility.

Cable & Wireless has five regional e-commerce platforms in London, Washington, Sydney, Bahrain, and Hong Kong. Bermuda will be targeted at businesses globally.

"Simply stated, our focus is on continuing to build a global telecommunication infrastructure that integrates voice, data and video into one medium to derive a new range of services based on internet protocol,'' he said at the Paramount Hotel in downtown New York.

He said Bermuda's reputation as a premier offshore international business centre with a reputable legal, regulatory, tax and social infrastructure, plus Government's commitment to developing electronic commerce provided the incentive to locate the service on the Island.

"Our experiences in global telecommunications has taught us that in order to attract and maintain electronic commerce business on a global scale we have to have in place a telecommunications infrastructure that guarantees the reliability, dependability, security and availability of bandwidth at a cost effective level,'' Mr. Saints said.

Cable & Wireless' partners include the Bank of Bermuda Ltd., EOCnet.com, and Bermuda Microsystems, which are all based on the Island. Other partners include UK-based software and Internet design company Victoria Real, Offshore-Biz.com, and Elan Group, a consultancy with headquarters in New York and a subsidiary in Bermuda.

Bahamas-based Offshore Biz.com is owned by Stephen Crane, the principal in Colombian Emeralds which markets jewellery throughout the Caribbean. He also owns a number of other subsidiaries selling duty free products abroad.

The Bank of Bermuda has developed a multi-currency processing facility on the Island which will allow merchants anywhere in the world to sell goods over the Internet. David Lema, manager of the bank's electronic services division, said the service will be launched in September allow merchants to offer transaction processing online in yen, sterling, euro, and Hong Kong, US and Canadian dollars.

Currently the bank offers processing over the Internet in US and Hong Kong dollars. He said the bank will also sell the service, which was developed under contract with Oasis Technology, to other banks worldwide that need such a facility. He said the bank decided to develop the product in-house after it was unable to find any transaction service provider that could handle a multiple of currencies on the Internet.

"Very few banks online really understand multicurrency transaction processing,'' he said.

C&W's `one-stop' e-shop "We aim to be the premier offshore e-commerce enabling organisation for transaction processing. In fact I think that we are.'' Cable & Wireless has signed up local company Trimingham Brothers Ltd. as part of the launch of the service.

Edward Kempf, an analyst with the Gartner Group, said yesterday the rollout of the product showed that "sometimes patience is a virtue'' in electronic business.

"Electronic business is more than transaction processing,'' he said in an interview with The Royal Gazette . "They think they have a very solid, fundamental strategy in place. Their partnership with EOCnet is going to be key to their strategy going forward by providing savings in time and money for companies looking to establish an offshore entity. It's also clear that Bermuda is committed to electronic business on every level.'' He believes Cable & Wireless and the other partners will focus on what he described as the "middle market'' companies, a sector that's currently underserved right now on the Internet.

"Most companies have a Web presence but it isn't inter-active,'' he said.

"Now we need to take electronic business to another level. Most businesses are finding out that if you don't establish yourself on the Web you are going to be displaced.'' The press conference was held prior to the start of a three-day conference on e-commerce in the offshore world being held in New York. The conference begins today.

For information on Cable & Wireless' Internet services go to www.cw-webcommerce.com.