Meanwhile, Softbank not all asleep:
Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Exodus, Hitachi, Softbank To Join
Hands On Data Centers
TOKYO (Nikkei)--In a move to expand its data center
business in Japan, U.S. firm Exodus Communications
Inc. plans to team up with Hitachi Ltd. (6501) and
Softbank Corp. (9984), The Nihon Keizai Shimbun
learned Tuesday.
The three companies aim to begin operations as early
as April 2001 through a Japanese venture launched by
the GlobalCenter Inc. group, a major U.S. player in data
center operations, and Internet Research Institute Inc.
(4741), known as IRI.
Exodus has already agreed to purchase GlobalCenter
for 6.5 billion dollars. Under the new framework, the
Exodus group will likely hold a stake of at least 51% in
the venture, while Hitachi, Softbank and IRI are expected
to take the rest.
The partners believe that the spread of e-commerce is
boosting demand for data centers, and see the market
doubling to slightly more than 100 billion yen in 2001.
They are expected to spend about 1-2 billion yen to
expand the venture's 3,000 sq. meter data center by
200% as early as next year.
Exodus launched a wholly owned Japanese subsidiary in
December 1999. Softbank aims to make use of data
center operations as infrastructure for its
business-to-business e-commerce operations, while
Hitachi plans to supply high-capacity storage equipment
to the center.
(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Wednesday morning edition) |
