Pitney Bowes Inc says it will announce a major milestone in its online mailing technology on Tuesday. The veteran company has seen upstart companies such as Cylink Corp and Stampmaster Inc muscle in on its business recently, both of them winning approval from the US Postal Service to introduce internet-based postal delivery services using so-called internet stamps. Shelton, Connecticut-based Pitney Bowes has already made it clear that it holds a clutch of patents – some dating back to the 1970s – that relate to applied cryptography and key management. It says that it is in discussions with other companies involved in the online postage market about licensing the patented technology. But although the company claims to have invented online mailing technology that has saved US businesses three quarters of a billion dollars and greatly benefits the US Postal Service But Pitney Bowes has yet to make a direct play on the internet-based postal delivery market.
