| November 6, 2003 |
| Press Release |
| IBM Japan, Ltd. NTT Communications Corporation |
|
IBM and NTT Com to Provide ERP Solution Hosting to Medium-Sized Firms |
| IBM Japan, Ltd. (head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; president: Takuma Otoshi) and NTT Communications Corporation (“NTT Com”; head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; president: Masanobu Suzuki) today announced an alliance to provide enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution hosting by the end of this year. The service will combine IBM Japan’s ERP solutions for medium-sized businesses with NTT Com’s NTT/VERIO PowerPlatform Hosting Services. Solutions based on the SuperStream ERP product of SSJ K.K. (head office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; president: Yuji Sato) will comprise three service packages: 1) accounting, 2) accounting plus payments and 3) accounting and payments plus debt. Hosting services packaged with ERP solutions will free customers from having to construct their own systems. Since customers will not own the related IT assets, they can eliminate the burden and risk of purchasing servers and software. Not having to operate the related systems will also free customers from the need to employ and train operations/maintenance staff. In addition, the solutions will give customers access to the most up-to-date technologies. The hosting service is aimed at enterprises with 300 to 500 employees, primarily in the manufacturing and wholesale/retail industries. IBM Japan will be responsible for providing consulting, installation support and post-operation support services. With the service, NTT Com will expand its menu of high-function, low-cost, scalable solutions for customers of NTT/VERIO PowerPlatform Hosting Services in Japan. Worldwide, NTT Com provides hosting services to more than 500,000 users in 170 countries, spanning more than 6,000 servers. NTT Com is also negotiating with application providers, system integrators, etc. to offer additional solutions, such as web site operation, combing low cost and advanced functionality. Please see the attachment for a schema of the planned service. |
