A result from Esprit, the European Union's IT research and development programme. Service providers advertise their services in the Global Directory which customers can browse.
Customers then pay the suppliers for any items or services they require.
Intelligent help desk facilities enable system errors and faults to be detected. Different versions of the software are available for network operators, information distributors and users, and CD-ROM producers. A subset of the software, Amide Internet provides copyright protection and a secure electronics payments system for providers of commercial services on the Internet.