View our Well-Connected Awards ceremony highlights. (Watch me receive the award from Network Computing!!!)

E-Commerce Host Service Provider

Winner

AT&T Web Site Services, AT&T, (800) 7-HOSTING www.ipservices.att.com/

Finalists

Commerce Reach, GTE Internetworking, (800) 472-4565, (617) 873-2000 www.bbn.com IBM Global Web Solutions, IBM Corp., (800) IBM-7080 web.solutions.ibm.com

Award: E-Commerce Host Service Provider
Today's buzzwords for e-commerce are performance and support, with security not far behind. AT&T/CERFnet leads the e-commerce service provider pack in all three areas. Although its services are primarily targeted at midsized businesses, it provides the kind of feature-rich, application-integrated services touted by CSPs (Commerce Service Provider) eyeing much larger merchants.

AT&T/CERFnet is among a handful of CSPs promising to keep peak loads under 50 percent of capacity. It has one of the largest round-the-clock helpdesk staffs, as well as a breadth of network peering that leaves other CSPs dripping with envy.

AT&T/CERFnet's offering includes a packed wardrobe of payment systems and services, such as online tax calculation, multicurrency support, bill presentment, online credit-card processing, buyer notification of shipment, membership tracking, and purchase order and invoice support.

AT&T/CERFnet is also attuned to security concerns, providing several layers of fraud checks and the kind of old-world physical security so often neglected in the boomtown CSP market. Server and network redundancy, along with cross-server, dynamic load-balancing, round out this picture of an e-commerce service provider intent on quality and peak performance.

Honorable mentions in the CSP category go to GTE Internetworking and IBM Corp., both of whom win high marks for performance and reliability. We also see great potential in the merger of feature-rich EDS services and network-rich MCI WorldCom's CSP.

. --Christy Hudgins Bonafield