Stratus Technologies and NEC Corporation announced today that they have signed two 10-year agreements establishing a joint product development alliance and a long-term hardware purchasing arrangement.
NEC has also committed to increase its equity position in Stratus with a $9 million cash investment, reaffirming its commitment to the high-availability server marketplace.
Under the joint product development agreement, Stratus and NEC will cross-license technologies, collaborate closely on the development of future fault-tolerant computer servers, and provide core fault-tolerant technology.
Drawing upon expertise developed over 25 years, Stratus will provide high-availability software that enables continuous server operation. NEC will have primary responsibility for hardware design and for manufacturing a common hardware platform, which Stratus will purchase from NEC. Each company will add its own features and functionality for its unique marketplace requirements and will sell its own fault-tolerant server brands for Windows and Linux operating environments. The first jointly engineered server is expected in late 2006.
By sharing R&D expenses with NEC, Stratus expects to reduce costs and headcount, while reallocating investment dollars to software development and enterprise consulting services.
"Our agreements with NEC enable us to increase our focus on high-value, high-availability solutions services for the enterprise, increase investments in fault-tolerant software development, and continue providing industry-leading, fault-tolerant servers to customers and partners," said David J Laurello, president and CEO, Stratus Technologies.
"The same core technology we bring to the product-development alliance is also the foundation of our consulting and managed services to help clients ensure uninterrupted availability of their most important business processes and operations. Stratus' Continuous Processing technology is the linchpin in both our solutions services strategy and our agreement with NEC."
The partnership will yield servers designed to support business- and mission-critical operations, such as carrier and enterprise telephony services, funds transfer, securities trading, credit card processing, highly regulated manufacturing, E-911 computer-aided dispatch, security and call centres, to name a few. NEC and Stratus have collaborated on hardware and software engineering projects since 1999, and NEC currently sells Stratus-produced fault-tolerant servers in the US and Japan under the NEC Express brand.
"NEC is pleased to invest in and ally with Stratus to pursue our mutual interest in the high-availability server market, which continues to grow in size and importance," said Kazuhiko Kobayashi, executive vice-president, NEC. "The unique strengths and capabilities of our two companies will result in excellent products, as well as serve to differentiate our respective approaches to the global marketplace."
NEC's investment of $9 million will raise its ownership interest in Stratus to approximately 3%. Principal investors in the company include Investcorp, MidOcean Partners and Intel Capital, as well as the management and employees of Stratus.
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NEC Corporation is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialised needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electronic devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation.
The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of 4,855 billion yen (approximately $45 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2005.
For additional information, visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com.
Stratus Technologies
Building upon 25 years of dedication to Continuous Processing technology, Stratus Technologies is a global leader for services and systems designed to provide customers with complete, continuous-availability solutions for critical computer-based operations. Stratus serves customers in areas such as telecommunications, financial services, banking, manufacturing operations, life sciences, public safety, transportation and logistics, and others who require continuous availability for the proper functioning of their businesses.
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