TOKYO (Nikkei)--Fujitsu Ltd. (FJTSY, 6702.TO) and Microsoft
Corp. (MSFT) will share data centers worldwide in a bid to catch up
to Google Inc. (GOOG) and other pioneers in the business of
providing software and computing services online, the Nikkei
reported Friday.
The effort will combine Microsoft software with Fujitsu customer
service to speed both firms' expansion into cloud computing.
Fujitsu operates 90 or so data centers in 16 countries. As early
as this year, it will begin hosting Microsoft cloud services at its
Tatebayashi center in Gunma Prefecture. It plans to do the same at
locations in the U.S., the U.K., Singapore and elsewhere, equipping
them with the necessary technology. In deciding to work with
Microsoft, Fujitsu acknowledges that its own cloud services have
limited prospects for growth abroad.
Microsoft is racing to expand its cloud services worldwide,
having opened massive data centers in Chicago and Dublin last year.
But the U.S. firm has been stretched thin in customer support and
other areas and will seek to reinforce them in cooperation with
Fujitsu. Microsoft also believes that teaming with Fujitsu will
help it make customers of globalizing Japanese companies.
The partners are considering joint investment in new data
centers, which cost tens of billions of yen to build.
Microsoft this January introduced Windows Azure, which gives
businesses Internet-based access to Windows software stored at
Microsoft data centers instead of on their own computers. Through
its partnership with Microsoft, Fujitsu will try to tap this base
of Windows users.
Salesforce.com, a leader in cloud services, has about 77,000
customers worldwide, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry and Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. Google invested around 700
billion yen in its cloud computing business from 2006 to 2009.
Among its customers in Japan is toilet manufacturer Toto Ltd.
(5332.TO).
Both firms are pushing more aggressively into Japan, threatening
domestic information technology giants. Fujitsu will seek to
counter this challenge by working with Microsoft to build a global
presence in cloud computing.
The world market for cloud computing will grow to $55.5 billion
in 2014 from $16 billion in 2009, reckons U.S. research firm IDC.
Japan's IT industry is hampered by its inability to offer the same
level of cloud services worldwide even as more domestic firms
globalize.
(The Nikkei July 10 morning edition)