March 22, 2000. ShopFactory is one of the most popular shopping cart software packages for creating and running virtual shopping sites and it can be used with simplicity, as it is based around structures that can be personalized. The product is used in more than fifty countries and manages up to 150 different currencies.

The agreement allows SSB to offer, through banks, a complete e-commerce solution service to traders, integrating the ShopFactory software for the development and management of virtual shops with the TELEpay Light payment system. The SSB system is a modular one: if a bank wishes to offer only payment services it can continue to offer traders the Telepay service; if instead a bank wishes to offer a complete and effective system it can offer ShopFactory-Telepay.

"Today - says Marco Bellinzoni, Managing Director of SSB - there is a great demand for creating virtual shops and secure payment systems for the Internet. Thanks to this agreement between SSB and 3D3 the needs of traders, even medium to small-sized ones, can be completely satisfied in a quick and simple way using the ShopFactory-Telepay system which will be distributed by banks".

The new service thus goes towards integrating and completing the various payment systems from SSB which respond to diverse requirements in terms of security, ease of use for the purchaser and the trader. With the ShopFactory distribution agreement between us and 3D3, SSB is reinforcing its strategy of a "global service" in the Internet field and confirms its position as leader in the area of e-commerce. SSB has, in fact, been operating since 1997 in the field of on-line payment systems, starting with the TELEpay service and subsequently with the start up of the SET Acquiring service and the Digital Signature payment technology.

About SSB

Constituted in 1992, the company is market leader in the design and management of information systems for banks in the area of Payment Systems, e-commerce services, credit and debit card processing, Corporate Banking and Digital Signature using Ellips, and the Certification Service called SSB-CA by reason of which SSB is included in the AIPA Public Register of Certifiers and also has the ISO 9001 quality control certificate for its operations. SSB is a company whose shares are entirely owned by banks. About 194 Italian banks are shareholders in SSB, whereas its customers include all the major Italian banks and international banks operating in Italy, as well as major public administration bodies and companies. In 1999 SSB handled more than 3,000,000,000 inter-bank transactions, guaranteeing an average level of service amounting to 99.9%. SSB is a shareholder together with Telecom Italia in TSP S.p.A., a company which offers value-added services based on the utilisation of cards containing microchips. SSB uses TSP for all its card management transactions relative to microchip-equipped cards. SSB operates with the Bank of Italy, ABI (the Italian Banking Association) and the CIPA (Inter-bank Convention for Automation Matters - Convenzione Interbancaria sui problemi dell'Automazione) and is always ready to offer itself as a creative and qualified partner to all members of the banking system. On the international level, SSB works together with similar companies in all the major countries, with the aim of harmonizing and integrating European services for banks. Moreover, SSB is a member of VISA and a shareholder in Europay.

About 3D3.com

The Australian company 3D3.com Pty Ltd is the leader in the development of 3D-e-commerce Web sites. In 1996 it developed the ShopFactory shopping cart software for the development and management of virtual shops, making this product one of the first e-commerce solutions available on an international level.