Ibm In Networking Pact With Ntt

World computer leader IBM Corp yesterday said it would team up with Japans telecommunications giant NTT Corp to study cooperation in networking computers.

The companies said that the work would focus on a trial run of IBMs network-related software on NTTs phone lines in Japan.

In a move to strengthen applications and services in networking computing, IBM plans to run and develop networking software such as those related to one-stop-billing, security and identification, an IBM Japan spokesman said.

The two firms will begin tests here in April, which could last about one year, but have not reached any commercial agreement, the two companies told a news conference.

IBM has so far used such products under its own closed network system called IBM Global Network service. It aims to develop products that can be used under the open computing environment such as the Internet, he said.

As we can see by the explosive growth of the Internet, network computing is rapidly changing how companies conduct business around the world, said Ned Lautenbach, IBM senior vice president.

With this agreement, we hope to accelerate the growth of network computing in Japan.

Lotus Notes and IBMs other software products will be also run under the experiments, the IBM Japan spokesman said.

IBM has been dependent on large-scale computing systems based on host and client server systems, but it is now trying to strengthen its connectivity technology in local area networks such as the Internet, one industry analyst said.