Fujitsu Ltd said on Monday that it and three other Japanese mainframe computer makers have agreed to introduce software which will enable the free exchange of data among the machines they make.
The companies, Fujitsu, Hitachi Ltd , NEC Corp and Nihon Unisys Ltd, are expected to develop the software by next May, a Fujitsu spokesman said.
The move is expected to help promote electronic commerce, he said.
As a first step, the companies will set up a body in September to promote the project and start development of programmes allowing computers with different platforms to exchange data through in-house networks and the World Wide Web.
They will also ask International Business Machines Corp and other computer makers to participate in the project as they aim to make their data-exchange software a worldwide industry standard. The combined value of shipments by the four makers accounts for more than 70 per cent of the Japanese mainframe market, the spokesman said.
Fujitsu Ltd on Monday also unveiled three new integrated circuit (IC) cards and their reader/writers as part of an initial line of products for the IC card system solution business.
The new IC card consists of an eight-bit Central Processing Unit (CPU), large memory capacity, and enhanced security functions, it said. The new IC card reader/writer is a terminal device designed to access the new IC card and read or write data in its memory, the Japanese chip maker said in a statement.
Fujitsu said it plans to sell three million IC cards and 10,000 IC card reader/writers within the next two years. The new products can be used in electronic money systems, public systems, retail stores and for other applications.
As for electronic money, Fujitsu is planning to support both the Visa cash and Mondex cash card system standards, it said, adding that it will release more new IC card related hardware and software in the near future.
