BCC Technologies, a supplier of computer storage products, has made multimillion-dollar deals with European equipment manufacturers using only videoconferencing. Acquire1 of Redwood City, Calif., has developed an online system that allows merchants to review and hire companies that process credit card transactions. E-Commerce Consumers now have the ability to send and receive cash over the Internet at no cost. Recipients are notified by email and can request a check or an electronic transfer to their bank account. After opening the account, recipients can send their money on to another bank.
Experts expect the services to catch on.
None of them require special software, but they must first convince potential users that their services are secure. PayPal says it already has nearly 99,000 users-the others won't divulge user numbers. Joel Friedman, of Andersen Consulting, says it will be hard to produce enough volume.