IBM, 2 Firms in Venture

As part of its expanded push into electronic commerce, IBM Corp. tapped Santa Monica-based IMall Inc. and First Data Corp. to provide an all-in-one package for small and medium-sized businesses to sell over the Internet. The deal combines IBM’s Web site creation, maintenance and hosting services with First Data’s credit card processing and merchant account establishment services and IMall’s transaction services. It gives IMall an important stream of clients. This deal comes on top of partnerships IMall formed with First Data and Verio Inc., a Web-hosting company. Merchants will buy services from IBM and IMall will receive a share of those payments. First Data will receive a fee for each transaction.