Tandem puts NT on the road to Net commerce

Microsoft NT has gained a foothold in the coveted high finance market through a deal with Tandem, which will put NT and Microsoft applications on a fault-tolerant platform for processing Internet electronic commerce transactions.

The two companies aim to take Internet electronic commerce solutions based on NT into Tandem's customer base, which is dominated by financial institutions - Tandem servers handle over half of all credit card transactions.

For the first time, Tandem will run another company's applications - Microsoft Backoffice, Normandy and Merchant - on its Himalaya fault tolerant platforms. 'We want to extend our leadership position into the Internet space by extending existing applications, such as settlements and payments, to take advantage of browser technology and to sell and buy goods over the Internet,' said Alan Harris, manager of e-commerce at Tandem.

Tandem will also port its Servernet architecture, which provides a framework for highly distributed applications, to NT and the partners will jointly promote the Microsoft applications into this market.

For Tandem, the deal should help preserve its customer base in financial organisations by linking its high-end technology to the fashionable Internet/ Microsoft approach.