Microsoft, Fujitsu Expand Alliance On 64-bit Windows Servers, Services

In a Tokyo press conference on Monday, Fujitsu Chairman Naoyuki Akikusa and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the two companies will collaborate on delivering mission critical Itanium servers as well as on platform integration services and customer support for Windows Server 2003 and next generation versions of Windows. Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the companies, Microsoft will tap Fujitsu's mainframe expertise and systems development to build advanced servers running Windows Server 2003 and future Longhorn servers.

Fujitsu's next Itanium-based server for Windows Server 2003 is expected to launch in the first half of 2005. Further out, Fujitsu will perform system validation of the planned dynamic partitioning feature on the Longhorn Windows Server to provide mainframe-class availability of systems, Microsoft said.

The two vendors will also provide better interoperability between their respective software platforms and develop new tools designed to help customer migrate applications from legacy environments to newer Microsoft technologies. For instance, the two companies will enhance Fujitsu's NetCOBOL for .NET and Interstage Business Application Manager for .NET to enable customers to migrate from traditional enterprise applications to Microsoft's .NET Web services platform. In total, Fujitsu is targeting revenues of $7.2 billion in 2007 on Microsoft-related systems, software and services, the company said in a statement released on Monday. The expanded alliance also calls for the integration of Microsoft's .NET and into Fujitsu's Triole platform architecture for on-demand computing. Microsoft and Fujitsu have been developing Triole platform integration templates or building blocks for adaptive computing environments as well as solutions, design, consulting and system integration services to speed up the creation of flexible infrastructures based on Windows Server 2003, the NET Framework and SQL Server, Microsoft and Fujitsu said. To enable that initiative, Fujitsu will open a proof-of-concept design center in Japan during the second half of 2004. Fujitsu and Microsoft will also work to improve systems-management functionality between the two platforms by enhancing the interoperability between Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) and Fujitsu's Systemwalker product lines.

Finally, the two companies will create a joint engineering support team at a new Global Escalation Center at Microsoft headquarters in the second half of 2004 that will offer mission-critical support for joint customers. Fujitsu is one of Microsoft's 18 top global enterprise partners.