In 1994, co-founders Bill McKiernan and John Pettitt started one of the world's first Internet shops, Software.net. Its goal was simply to sell software over the Internet. But online customers were reluctant to purchase unless their buying experience felt completely secure, simple, and seamless. Bill and John soon realized they would need a comprehensive back-office solution to automate the sales process and to increase customer security. The company built its own automatic payment processing system, global tax calculation engine and export control system.
Every successful merchant has to guard against theft.
Software.net soon discovered that the growth in Internet commerce was accompanied by an equally explosive growth in Internet fraud. Early on, a lot of Software.net orders proved to be fraudulent. Word soon spread. Confronting the same problems CyberSource had already solved, major companies like Apple, Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec sought our support of their own eCommerce efforts. Because of our extensive expertise, CyberSource was the clear choice to provide proven electronic payment and risk management solutions.