Hitachi, Ltd.(TSE:6501) and Nihon Unisys,Ltd. (TSE:8056)announced that they have
agreed to form a business alliance in the area of financial information systems. The
agreement will serve as the basis for a wide-ranging collaboration between the two
companies that will include the cross-supply of solution products and services and the co-
use of outsourcing operations resources that address the needs of financial institutions and
outsourcing operations. This will enable the companies to expand their solutions lineup,
improve customer satisfaction and expand their business in the financial systems market.
To win out against the global competition, financial institutions are pushing
forward with structural changes in which information technology (IT) serves as the driving
force. Information systems that can be applied to the management issues involved play
an essential role in expediting such changes, and this is generating a demand for advanced
solutions from IT vendors.
By making it possible to use each other's business resources in the form of
products and services, the alliance will strengthen both companies' ability to speedily
provide value-added solutions to meet the needs of financial institutions. The range of
cooperation between Hitachi and Nihon Unisys will be extensive, covering solution
products in the areas in which each specializes, shared use of outsourcing facilities,
cooperation on the development of a centralized document processing system to process
transactions conducted by branches/outposts, and the cross-supply of middleware and
system building and implementation services that constitute the keystone of enterprise
solutions.
Hitachi and Nihon Unisys. have been collaborating since 1999 in the area of
solutions related to electronic commerce. The new agreement represents a major
expansion of this collaboration, which will encompass all aspects of solution operations
for the financial industry. Each company will continue to provide solution products
through its own sales channels. At the same time, future plans include increased use of
each other's products and a broadening of the scope of joint development projects.
Principle areas of collaboration
1. Solution products and services
The companies will supply each other with solution products in their leading areas,
such as Internet Banking (Hitachi) and CRMS21 (Nihon Unisys). The companies
plan to gradually expand their areas of collaboration and to strengthen their
alliance including by the joint development of products.
2. Outsourcing services
The companies will advance their cooperation in the area of outsourcing
operations, including the mutual use of facility/system operation services. There
will be mutual use of service center facilities/equipment commonly used for
multiple clients, such as Hitachi's Network Banking Center Service and Nihon
Unisys International Banking System Outsourcing Service.
3. Centralized document processing systems/branches/outposts systems
In the area of centralized document processing of back-office operations, the
companies will provide a total system that combines the systems strengths of each,
which include Monetary exchange and seal image-data query system in the case
of Hitachi, and bill and note systems and proofing systems in the case of Nihon
Unisys. Future plans include unification of middleware and a seamlessly
centralized documents processing system. At the same time, with respect to
branches/outposts systems, the present product supply agreement will be
strengthened.
4. Middleware products/Systems engineering services
Open middleware products are a key component of solutions for the financial
industry. Hitachi and Nihon Unisys will provide each other with these products,
and at the same time will collaborate in the area of systems engineering services
in order to provide customers in the above sector with solutions offering higher
added value.
Hitachi's "Solutionmax for Finance" is a family of solutions products and services
designed to help financial institutions that respond to the financial industry's "Big Bang."
Solutionmax for Finance is based on "Hub&Spoke," architecture that provides a flexible
way of building systems able to integrate and consolidate all of an organization's various
systems. Solutionmax for Finance offers a total solution for the age of the Internet, one
that includes outsourcing services and the implementation of systems for supporting the
channel and product strategies of financial industry corporations.
Nihon Unisys has been serving corperate customers for many years providing
solutions that help customers resolve their business issues. As " a Solutions Creators",
Nihon Unisys has been offering various financial solutions based on its "Financial
Square21" concept. and the company continues to better serve customers to meet with
their needs and wants leveraging its procurement capabilities and integration expertise.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global
electronics companies, with fiscal 1998 (ended March 31, 1999) consolidated sales of
7,977 billion yen ($65.9 billion*). The company manufactures and markets a wide
range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and
power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit
Hitachi's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.
* At an exchange rate of 121 yen to the dollar.
Nihon Unisys, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, was founded in 1958 as a joint
venture of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Unisys Corp. with fiscal year 1998 Non-
consolidated sales (ending March 31, 1999) of 296.5 billion yen. The company
provides products and services, including mainframe computers, servers, personal
computers, software, system and network related services.
|
