Fujitsu Siemens helps Planet host online service
Fujitsu Siemens has become the latest vendor to stake its place in the emerging European application service provider (ASP) market with an agreement to deliver IT infrastructure and services to Planet Online.
Fujitsu Siemens has become the latest vendor to stake its place in the emerging European application service provider (ASP) market with an agreement to deliver IT infrastructure and services to Planet Online.
The deal will help the UK Internet service provider (ISP) set up application hosting facilities in six countries, starting with operations in Amsterdam and Frankfurt next month. Sites in Stockholm, Paris, Madrid and Milan will follow. A UK facility currently used to host Web sites will provide application services.
The initiative is aimed at large companies as well as SMEs, and the ASP offering will include e-commerce, Web-hosting and connectivity solutions.
The two companies will also embark on a joint marketing campaign to promote ASPs in Europe. The move follows IBM's tie-up with Progress Software in November last year.
Under that deal, Progress Software's partners will receive out-hosted services on IBM's AS/400, RS/6000 or Netfinity platforms. The partners will also be eligible for additional services, including ready-to-rent email, time management systems, electronic data interchange, channel-ready service products from IBM and flexible finance packages (PC Dealer, 10 November 1999).
Robert Hoog, president of Fujitsu Siemens, said: "As an ASP, Planet Online will combine excellent data centre operations with access to one of the fastest IP networks throughout Europe. We are ideally positioned to jointly offer our customers a reliable 24-hour hosting facility for all their IT needs."
John Beaumont, managing director of Planet Online, said the deal will enable the ISP to offer customers a completely "new way of running their IT solutions".
- Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe, a subsidiary of Fujitsu, has announced it will invest 48.4m euros (£29.9m) to expand Fujitsu's software plant in Belfast. The centre, which will employ 400 engineers over the next four years, is the biggest investment by a Japanese company in Northern Ireland.