Business Highlights

CardSystems Solutions Inc. "has not corrected, and cannot at this point correct, the failure to provide proper data security for Visa accounts," said Rosetta Jones, a spokeswoman for Foster City, Calif.-based Visa.

She said banks that issue Visa cards would have until Oct. 31 to replace CardSystems with one of the hundreds of other payment-processing companies in the United States. American Express also notified CardSystems it would sever their relationship as of October, spokeswoman Judy Tenzer said. CardSystems was a small part of American Express' network, handling less than 0.5 percent of its transactions, she said.

Atlanta-based CardSystems released a statement saying it was "disappointed and very surprised," and hoped Visa would reconsider. The company did not address American Express' decision.

CardSystems told the FBI it learned of a potential breach of its computer network on May 22, and the break-in was publicly disclosed last month.

Gap to launch line of perfume, cosmetics

SAN FRANCISCO - Sniffing an opportunity to boost its recently sagging sales, clothing retailer Gap Inc. plans to expand its line of perfume and other personal care products next year in a partnership with Inter Parfums Inc.

The San Francisco-based company said Tuesday that the expanded product line will be sold at its Banana Republic stores as well its flagship Gap stores. The expansion doesn't involve Gap's discount chain, Old Navy.

New York-based Inter Parfums will be responsible for developing, making and packaging the perfume and other cosmetics. The two companies didn't disclose the financial details of their alliance.

The expanded Banana Republic line is scheduled to become available during autumn of 2006 while the expanded Gap line will debut in 2007.

"Personal care products are a natural extension of our brands and represent an organic growth opportunity for our company," said Paul Pressler, Gap's president and CEO.

Like several other popular clothing brands, Gap already sells some personal care products bearing its name. The company realized it needed to work with a personal care specialist to expand its offerings, Gap spokeswoman Kris Marubio said.

Ad war looming in increasingly crowded sleep aid market

BOSTON - Terri Bagley spent nearly two decades searching for a way to get a good night's sleep.

She toyed with keeping her bedroom pitch black and sniffing in the soothing smell of lavender. But neither those tricks nor over-the-counter and prescription medications made much of a difference.

Bagley, a 44-year-old operator of a small cleaning service in Pelham, N.C., is typical of the millions of Americans believed to suffer from chronic insomnia who until recently had mostly short-term solutions available. She found help in a clinical trial for Lunesta, one of a new generation of prescription sleep medications, and continued taking the drug after it hit the market in April.

"If you're tired for 20 years, you don't realize how much better you can feel until you start getting a full night's sleep again," she said.

An emerging class of sleep aids is spurring an advertising effort that industry watchers say could rival the saturation campaign for erectile dysfunction drugs.

"I would expect this to become a very active category of drugs in consumer advertising," said Judy Franks, of Starcom Worldwide, a Chicago-based ad buying agency.