Fujitsu, IBM to Collaborate on Next-Generation Telecommunications Solutions
Will Facilitate Links Between Telecommunications and e-business Services

Tokyo, Japan, November 28, 2002-Fujitsu Limited and IBM Corporation announced today that they will collaborate to deliver next-generation telecommunications middleware solutions that better link telecommunications services and e-business. The collaboration will make it easier for businesses to use the next generation of telecommunications services by merging previously independent carrier services provided through public wireline or mobile phone networks with such internal network- delivered business services as groupware, collaboration feature sets, and portals.

Fujitsu and IBM will work together to link their respective telecommunications servers by means of Open API (Application Programming Interface). "Parlay," an open standard interface developed by the non-profit Parlay Group (http://www.parlay.org/), will serve as a base for these efforts. IBM and Fujitsu are both active members of the Parlay Group. Both companies will also work together toward greater industry adoption of Parlay in the future. IBM's development work will be done by IBM's Software Development Laboratory, located in Yamato, Japan, while Fujitsu's Network Business Group, based in Kawasaki, will undertake Fujitsu's portion.

When linked together with Parlay, both companies' telecommunications middleware will make it possible to utilize unique audio/data/IP integration services through communications networks such as public wireline and mobile phone networks. Businesses and service providers will be able to rapidly and easily deploy telecommunications services customized to fit the specific requirements of corporations. For example, services previously available only over the Internet will be able to be accessed by voice calls, and the same service will be able to be used across different networks such as Internet and public networks. Moreover, it will also be possible to create new services associated with e-business that previously could not be realized by public network telecommunications services alone.

Fujitsu's GeoServe telecommunication solutions server will provide the Parlay gateway function to the public network, while IBM WebSphere Telecom Application Server (WTAS) will offer Parlay client function to be connected to the gateway via Parlay API. The product's companion, WebSphere Telecom Application Toolkit, will be used as the service creation environment. Interoperability verification is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

About Parlay
Parlay is an open interface that enables use with public telephone and cellular phone networks managed by carrier companies from the IT infrastructures of any and all service providers, thus creating a new class of data communications services. Development of telecommunications services thus far has had a strongly proprietary flavor and been inefficient. However, by enabling development using open standards such as Java, development resources are dramatically expanded. It also becomes possible to reduce costs by 50% or more.

By using Parlay, service providers will be able to create unique applications that do not depend on any one carrier's systems, enabling them, for example, to offer compound value-added services over public and mobile phone networks that were previously only available over the Internet. Providers could offer services in areas that are in a constant state of flux, such as stock prices, and automatically notify users by phone when pre-established sale or buy prices have been reached. Parlay Group also works with other standards groups, such as ETSI, 3GPP, and 3GPP2 to achieve a common API. Practical trials and adoptions of Parlay are underway by major telecommunications providers underway in North America, Europe, and Asia.

About Parlay Group
Parlay Group (http://www.parlay.org/) is comprised of 65 companies, including British Telecommunications, France Telecom, Ericsson, Cisco Systems, NTT, IBM, and Fujitsu. Parlay formulates APIs independent of technologies, with the objective of enabling the development and provision of highly portable telecom service applications meeting demand for such applications. At present, Parlay Group has defined 14 packages, including Framework, Call Control, as well as Presence and Availability Management. Fujitsu and IBM are full corporate members of Parlay Group, with IBM holding the current chairmanship.

About Fujitsu's GeoServe Telecommunications Solution Server
Fujitsu's GeoServe is a telecommunications solution server that, using UNIX servers (such as Fujitsu's PRIMEPOWER servers) as a platform, comprises over ten types of application software and the company's GeoServe HA high availability middleware to provide carrier-grade high reliability/availability functions. Carrier-grade service is achieved through the combination of GeoServe HA, which incorporates Fujitsu's extensive know-how in the development of telecommunications switching technologies and its high reliability/availability platform technology for enterprise computing environments. In addition to already existing services provided over public and mobile phone networks, GeoServe offers the system environment necessary to realize various services over next-generation networks, such as broadband communications, video chat, image delivery and VoIP.

GeoServe supports the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for next-generation large-scale VoIP services. SIP support improves interoperability with multimedia applications running on PCs and makes it possible to offer compound services beyond simple voice communication through such devices as IP phones. It also provides a foundation for Presence and Instant Messaging services. Also supported are industry-standard APIs such as Parlay and JAIN, which enable the development of service applications and easy porting of applications without requiring knowledge of lower layer communication infrastructure. GeoServe offers multimedia communication service over IPv4, IPv6 or both intermixed.

About IBM WebSphere Telecom Application Server
IBM WebSphere Telecom Application Server (WTAS) Version 1.2, based on Java and industry standards, helps accelerate the software development process. This expands the pool of talent that can more easily develop new telecom and e-business applications to include the 3 million+ programmers who are proficient in Java. The product is based on WebSphere Application Server, which uses Java 2 Enterprise Edition. WTAS supports the emerging, open application programming interfaces defined by the Parlay Group, and adopted by the ETSI, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and 3GPP2 standards organizations. Products based on Parlay's open standards are fast becoming the gold standard for enhancing current and creating new telecom applications that run on wireline, wireless networks and the Internet. WTAS is a key component of IBM's Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE, pronounced "speed -ee"), an open, standards-based framework designed to give wireline and wireless service providers the flexibility to introduce new, revenue-generating voice, text and Internet services to their customers faster, easier and at a lower cost. IBM SPDE enables service providers to mix components to match subscriber demand. For more information about IBM WebSphere Telecom Application Server, visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/wtas/.

* IBM and WebSphere are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, others countries, or both. All other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

[Press Contacts] Ayami Shigematsu, Robert Pomeroy Fujitsu Limited, Public & Investor Relations Tel: +81(0)3-3215-5259 (Tokyo) Fax: +81(0)3-3216-9365 Press Inquiries

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