IT services giant EDS and Japanese telecom firm NTT
Communications have announced a partnership to offer clients IT and
communications services in Japan and elsewhere.
The companies are deciding which industries to target and will
develop joint packages of IT and telecommunications services,
including co-location and hosting.
The partnership could enable NTT to offer more sophisticated
hosting services, especially software applications, while EDS gains
another partner specialising in telecommunications and network
services to complement its relationship with bankrupt WorldCom,
said Melanie Posey, an IDC analyst.
IT service providers and telecommunications providers have
always partnered, but their collaborations have, traditionally,
been ad hoc affairs to serve a specific client in a specific
project, Posey said.
Now these companies are, increasingly, creating formal joint
agreements to go to market and generate new business together, she
said. This makes their relationship more of a business practice and
gives the partners additional business opportunities beyond
specific clients, which speeds up the sales pipeline.
"They see some advantage in formalising what had traditionally
been individual-case ventures to go to market together," Posey
said.
Meanwhile the partnership with NTT Com is expected to boost EDS'
outsourcing business in Japan, said Kristin Dobrowolski, an EDS
spokeswoman. "We see tremendous possibilities for outsourcing in
the Japanese market."
EDS, is the world's second-largest provider of IT services,
while NTT is a long-distance and data communication subsidiary of
Japan's incumbent telco Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT). NTT
Com's NTT/Verio group provides Web hosting and IP services,
including co-location, Internet access, e-commerce, security and
virtual private networking (VPN).