FRAMINGHAM (07/20/2000) - Fidelity Uses Verizon for Wireless TradingFidelity Investments in Boston announced that it has formed an alliance with Verizon (Corp.) Wireless in Bedminster, N.J., to deliver Fidelity's InstantBroker wireless trading service via Web-enabled phones. Fidelity first developed its InstantBroker service with two-way pagers and other handheld devices in November 1998.
Study: ASPs to Boom
The U.S. market for application service providers (ASP) is expected to grow from $1.1 billion to $13 billion by 2004, according to a study by The Phillips Group Inc. in Parsippany, N.J. The study also said large businesses will account for 70% of that growth. E-commerce will lead the growth, representing 52% of the ASP revenue, compared with only 28% last year. Only 4% of firms that have 500 to 100,000 employees are using ASPs, the study found, but about 70% said they will be implementing ASPs for some aspect of their organizations.
Study Shows Web Bill-Paying Trends
Web consumers are three times more likely to use online bill-payment services from banks than from dot-com companies, according to a study released last week by Greenwich, Conn.-based InsightExpress LLC. The survey also asked consumers why they use online bill payment: to make last-minute payments (44%), to cut down on time spent paying bills (37%) or to avoid postage costs (32%). But consumers also reported being concerned about security (69%), fees (60%) and consumer recourse in terms of user-initiated errors.
Sabre Creates B-to-B Travel Marketplace
With more than 18,000 U.S. and 41,000 worldwide travel agencies hooked up to its computer reservations systems, The Sabre Group Holdings Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this month launched a business-to-business marketplace for those agencies.
By the middle of next month, suppliers including Office Depot Inc., Staples Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. will offer goods and services to every Sabre-connected U.S. agency. An international launch is scheduled for later this year.
Banks Join Forces on Internet Services
Atlanta-based VerticalOne Corp. and Rocky Mount, N.C.-based Centura Banks Inc. announced a partnership last week aimed at extending VerticalOne's Internet-banking capabilities to Centura Banks'customers.
Centura serves about 250 financial centers, offices and in-storelocations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. VerticalOne provides its clients with one-stop Internet banking at about 400 banks and investment firms.
Armstrong World Outsources Portals
Building materials giant Armstrong World Industries Inc. in Lancaster, Pa., has outsourced its customer Web portals to Pleasanton, Calif.-based Intira Corp.
Growth in Web site traffic spurred Armstrong to seek outside services for infrastructure expansion and support, which will include everything from server provisioning to security to backups.
Two Firms Back StorageApps
Dell Ventures and Blackstone Group LP teamed up to invest $25 million in privately held StorageApps Inc., a maker of applications and appliances for storage-based network services in Bridgewater, N.J.
Dell Ventures is a business group of Dell Computer Corp. in Round Rock, Texas.
It makes investments in early-stage private companies. Blackstone Group is a private investment bank in New York.