Offering an Internet billing solution endorsed by IBM Corp. [NYSE:IBM], e-Business Exchange Pte Ltd (eBX), plans to entirely eliminate paper from billing and payment cycles.

No more hassles with bad checks, misplaced invoices and postal delays. Even reminder notices - and the standard phrase, "please ignore this notice if you have already made payment" may be a thing of the past.

Based in Penang, eBX plans to launch its e-billing system in Malaysia with IBM reseller Mesiniaga Bhd next year, after a successful run in Singapore.

"Our business in Singapore has been very encouraging," said Chan Hong Saik, chief executive of e-BX, who launched the system with Singapore's five-bank electronic banking network Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS), in January.

IBM provided the hardware and software for the system which includes components Lotus Domino, Lotus Notes, IBM Netfinity and RS/6000 servers, Tivoli systems management, and e-Business tools like Net.Commerce, Universal Database (UDB) and Java.

Mesiniaga executive director Wan Mohd Fusil Wan Mahmood claims to have spent up to two milllion ringgit (US$526,000) in assisting e-BX launch the product in Malaysia and has already signed on MayBank has a customer.

"Its important to move quickly to ensure businesses in this country are not left behind," he said.

The system allows the biller to key in data on an electronic customized invoice or extract it from existing billing systems, then send it over the Internet. On the receiving end, customers can view the bill, select a participating bank and authorize payment entirely online.

Both bill and payment instructions are encrypted, and passed securely to the bank for processing. The bank time stamps and approves each step of the process electronically and notifies the two parties on completion.

Companies can do away with administrative paper-pushing and stand to save substantially on handling charges for large volumes of bills.

"e-BX allows companies to be part of the competition rather than watching from outside. They shall become the new e-haves instead of e-have-nots," said Chan who adds the system can be adapted for small and medium businesses as well as larger multinational companies.

e-BX currently employs about 250 staff in Malaysia and Singapore and can be found on the Web, at http://www.ebx.com/ .

Exchange Rate: $1 = 3.80 ringgit

Reported By Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com/

00:34 CST