The Nippon Steel Corporation and Itochu Co., Ltd. will jointly begin an experimental cybermall project as early as June 1997, using an electronic payment system developed by the French company GC Tech. They are planningto complete their experiment by the end of 1997 and launch commercial operation early 1998. GC Tech and American CyberCash are leading venture companies known as developers of electronic payment systems on theInternet.
GC Tech has been looking for possible partners in Japan. Nippon Steel and Itochu have already inaugurated a GC Tech study group with five companies including a city bank. All of the member companies are highly likely to become major investors in a new company tentatively called Japan GC Tech Inc., which will manage the GC Tech system in Japan. The GC Tech system features a third-party institution called TTP (trusted third party). The TTP keeps the intermediary server that makes credit references and personal accreditations, and where users (buyers) register their credit numbers.
As the intermediary server has hot links with card companies and banks, TTP accredits both the seller and the buyer before settling their payments using credit cards. The user has only to register a card number at first and need not reveal his or her card number for each transaction.
Banking institutions are actual operators of TTP, while GC Tech only provides technology. Already in France, the Paribas group has begun operating TTP, with as many as about 200 cyber malls using the GC Tech-developed payment system.
Nippon Steel cites four reasons for choosing GC Tech: (1) Its system is highly secure because it does not require transmission of card information on the Internet for each transaction. (2) It has already been put to practical use in France. (3) It can handle micropayments. (4) It can become a global system linking TTPs when they are created in many countries and regions.
Shigeru Suzuki, General Manager of Planning Coordination at Nippon Steel's Division of Electronics, Information and Telecommunication Enterprises, says: "While considering possible operations in Japan including system links with banks, we will continue to invite other companies to join the experiment (create shops in the cyber mall) and recruit banking institutions."
The electronic mall experiment will be conducted in two forms: one is a nationwide test and the other is a local program involving a limited number of users in Fukuoka Prefecture. The test in Fukuoka Prefecture will be led by Fukuoka Real Estate, a member of the GC Tech Study Group (headquartered in Fukuoka City and headed by President Kazuhiko Enomoto). General Manager Suzuki says: "We want the tests to quickly show user responses."
Notes:
GC Tech : A ventures business established in 1995. Created by 6 young researchers whoworked at information-processing laboratories. Headquartered in New York, the company mainly operates in France. Its board chairman is Laurent Adamowicz.
Fukuoka Real Estate : An influential developer in Fukuoka Prefecture. Operates Canal CityHakata, Japan's largest compound facility, opened in Hakata in April 1996.

TITRE : Bulletin Electronique du Japon du Service pour la Science et Technologie (SST) de l'Ambassade de France au Japon - DATE DE PARUTION : 25 Février 1997

GlobeID, un système français de paiement sur l'Internet, va être testé par Nippon Steel et Itochu.

Nippon Steel et Itochu vont lancer en Juin 1997 une expérience de galerie marchande sur l'Internet qui utilisera GlobeID, le système de paiement sécurisé de la société française GCTech.
La galerie virtuelle sera testée pendant l'année 1997 avant d'être véritablement opérationelle début 1998. Les efforts de GCTech pour s'implanter au Japon portent donc leurs fruits : la start-up française avait en effet mis en place un groupe d'étude de son système avec cinq partenaires japonais dont Itochu et Nippon Steel. Une filiale de GCTech au Japon appelée provisoirement Japan GCTech pourrait aussi voir le jour prochainement. (source : Nikkei Digital Money Systems, Février 1997).
GlobeID est un système qui permet au client internaute d'effectuer de manière sûre à la fois des gros paiements via sa carte bancaire, et des micropaiements, via un porte-monnaie virtuel crédité depuis son compte bancaire. L'authentification des acteurs de la transaction est faite par l'intermédiaire de tiers de confiance (Trust Third Party). La grande sécurité apportée par la technologie de GCTech vient du fait que les coordonnées bancaires ne sont transmises qu'une fois, au moment de l'inscription du client. Ensuite, seuls les actes d'achat sont échangés sous forme de messages cryptés. GlobeID est le système de paiement utilisé par Globe Online, une importante galerie commerciale française opérée par la société Kléline, filiale de la Compagnie Bancaire et du groupe LVMH.