and Henry Vigil, general manager of electronic commerce services at Microsoft, said he expects 300 sites using the software by year-end.
The product competes with an array of prior offerings, including those of Netscape Communications Corp and Internet startup Open Market, as well as Oracle Corp and International Business Machines Corp.
As part of the deal, Microsoft and VeriFone Inc brought together financial institutions and payment processors to provide a secure Internet retailing and payment system.
The financial institutions involved include BankAmerica Corp, Wells Fargo &amp; Co, Citicorp's Citibank Card Acceptance Europe, First USA Paymenteck Inc, NOVUS Services and Royal Bank of Canada.
Much of the technology was made available to partners for testing in August and was developed by eShop, which Microsoft acquired in June, company officials said.
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