GOVERNMENT

France Telecom and Fujitsu Limited today announced a grid computing technology-based joint project, the first project of their strategic R&D partnership agreement tied in July of this year to widely promote joint research and development in the fields of distributed computing, ubiquitous networking, and storage. Grid computing is a form of distributed computing that allows for the creation of a virtual supercomputer that can harness unused processing cycles and storage capacities of commodity computers, or organize distributed computing on dedicated clusters in multiple administrative domains to solve problems too intensive for a stand-alone machine. Grid computing is currently being viewed as a cornerstone of future IT infrastructures that can help to change the ways in which companies approach their information technology needs. Leveraging existing grid computing technology from France Telecom and Fujitsu, the first phase of the initial project will have an internal focus, to dramatically facilitate analysis of the huge volume of France Telecom's data, such as for data mining and customer billing. In the second phase, the project will generate value-added external services based on grid computing that can be offered to other enterprises. This strategic partnership will enable France Telecom and Fujitsu to offer innovative value-added services to their customers with greater speed and efficiency through shared resources. For the first phase of this project, Fujitsu will contribute its grid computing technology, specifically its CyberGRIP middleware and organic resource management systems. France Telecom R&D's division will bring to the partnership data-oriented and computation-intensive applications such as data mining, along with a number of enabling middleware components, particularly for persistent data and telecommunications application servers. In phase two of the project, the focus will shift to maximizing the companies' joint expertise to generate innovative external services for France Telecom and Fujitsu customers. "France Telecom is a world leading telecommunication service provider with tremendous R&D capabilities and experience. We believe this collaboration, to create new technologies and value-added services leveraging our collective strengths in grid computing and data mining, is an ideal partnership," said Kazuo Murano, president of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. "This is a prime example of our strategy of partnering with customers who are themselves leading technological innovators, to develop technologies and solutions that deliver real business value and enhance competitiveness." Pascal Viginier, executive Director of the R&D Division of France Telecom, said, "It's a great opportunity for us to partner with a leading company in both computing and telecommunication technology while it becomes evident that these two are blurring for the benefit of performance, cost reduction and integrated services that may be offered to customers. Grid computing is a way out for solving large-scale data storage and computing resources problems that are raised by the information society. Fujitsu is an excellent partner for France Telecom R&D's division to explore this innovative solution, both for France Telecom's internal needs as well as for innovative value-added services for customers of France Telecom and Fujitsu. We expect to develop further services based on a common vision on other R&D domains in the near future." France Telecom and Fujitsu are committed to mutually leveraging resources and sharing expertise to develop the best solutions for their customers. Both companies have agreed to promote the new services resulting from this R&D partnership.