Bank of America, BroadVision Form Net Services Venture

Bank of America and BroadVisiona provider of personalized e-business applications, announced Monday that they are forming a new company to develop customized business-to-employee (B2E) portals for corporate intranets.

Through the portals, employees will be able to access internal information -- including workplace communications, benefits information, and training -- as well as financial and travel services, industry news, stock quotes, and e-commerce. Employees will be also able to create customized portals based on their job responsibilities and personal interests.

"We believe that organizations today -- if they want to attract and retain the best people -- must provide the technology that enables employees to manage their careers and personal lives in ways that work best for them," said Bankofamerica.com's James D. Dixon.

Self Service Information

Bank of America and BroadVision (Nasdaq: BVSN) are joined in the venture by San Jose, California-based Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Spain-based Amadeus Global Travel Distribution.

The yet-to-be-named company will use technology held by BroadVision to create individualized corporate portals for subscriber companies, creating what the companies describe as an "interactive, self-service work environment for their employees."

Banking on Size, Expertise

Commenting on why corporations should develop information-delivery portals for employees, Pehong Chen, founder and chief executive officer of BroadVision, said, "The corporate desktop is one of the last untouched frontiers for the Internet."

Bank of America's 156,000 employees will be the first to benefit from the new product, followed by employees of other alliance members.

The mammoth U.S. bank, which currently has two million business customers, will supply banking and financial services to subscribers of the new service. It also said that it would draw on its experience as one of the largest private employers in the U.S. to help build human resources and employee benefits modules for the employee portals.

Combined Efforts

Hewlett Packard will be the primary supplier of IT infrastructure products and services for the new company and its clients. HP will offer client companies employee-connectivity programs with PCs and printers.

Amadeus, whose major stockholders include Air France, Iberia, and Lufthansa, will offer corporate travel procurement applications with self-service options, including online booking and ticketing.

BroadVision will license its One-To-One suite of applications to the new company, and provide maintenance and support services.

The news did not help BroadVision shares, which were down 3 at 39 3/4 as U.S. stocks fell across the board. In March, BroadVision hit a 52-week high of just above 93.