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June 17, 1997

Japan's First Business Media Services for Intercorporate EC transactions

- Supporting global business in the cyberspace age -

Implemented via a secure extranet, this will be the first service in Japan to provide business applications as well as a network infrastructure and business platforms.

"The rapid spread of information communications technology into all areas of society, led by the Internet, intranets and extranets, the ongoing development of borderless, global activities by enterprises are producing major changes in the paradigm of a dynamic network society in which large numbers of companies compete while at the same time working together," said Shigemichi Matsuka, executive managing director and Group Executive of Hitachi's Information Systems Group, adding, "To enable the companies to respond to the management needs imposed by the paradigms of a new age, companies require high-level services that include business applications and intercorporate networks that allow them to manage their operations while facilitating the development of new and existing partnerships."

Hitachi is one of the world's largest electronics companies. For over ten years its value-added network (VAN), implemented with related companies that include Hitachi Information Systems and Hitachi Information Network, has been linking the purchasing and other activities of some 2,100 companies around the world. Hitachi therefore has extensive experience and expertise in the building, operation and utilization of business systems. The reliability and sophistication of the technology concerned has been further demonstrated by the configuration and operation of Hitachi group company networks, which link around 100,000 users at some 4,000 locations throughout the world. Moreover, last October Hitachi released a line of software products and support services for developing electronic commerce applications between enterprises and individual consumers, and were applied in pilot projects.

The new service includes a membership-based premium service designed to help firms create new business by providing a total support structure and environment for intercorporate business relationships.

Companies are already utilizing business platform services such as network infrastructure services and VAN services. However, for Japan this will be the first extranet-based high-level service that includes business applications. Services that become available in September include support for estimates, exchange of plans and specifications, support for order transactions, and netting. The menu of services will be gradually expanded to include distribution transactions, electronic transaction market, general remittances, intercorporate work flows, and more.

The network and business application platforms on which the service is based will utilize Hitachi's own proven network technology and advanced information technology, including distributed object technology such as CORBA(*1) and Java(*2).

Initially, service membership will comprise some 2,100 companies including Hitachi subsidiaries and affiliates, a number that Hitachi intends to expand to 4,000 in two years as part of a plan to establish this as the global standard for intercorporate business media services.

*1 CORBA (Common Object Broker Architecture) is a specification for distributed application development established by the non-profit international corporation, The Object Management Group.
*2 Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Service details, pricing and availability

1. Business Application Service
Service charges comprise an entry fee, a fixed monthly charge and incremental charges, listed below. All services become available from September 1997.

Service	Charge item	Charge (yen)
Materials purchasing support service	Entry fee	500,000
	Business Environment utilization charge	from 200,000/month
	Estimation registration fee	150 per registration
	Transmission of drawing data fee	100/MByte
Sales support service	Entry fee	No charge
	Business Environment utilization charge	No charge
	Estimation registration fee	150 per registration
	Transmission of drawing data fee	100/MByte
Settlement support service	Entry fee
	Lead enterprise(*1)	500,000
	Participating enterprise(*2)	No charge
	Business environment utilization
	Lead enterprise	from 100,000/month
	Participating enterprise charge	from \50,000/month
	Netting service	300 per time

*1 Each netting group requires a lead company that administers the rules.
*2 Netting group participants other than lead companies.

2. Business platform service
Hitachi will provide users with business platform service to enable them to configure their own business applications on the platform. Hitachi can assign a systems engineer to support their system configuration. Services become available from September 1997, with pricing based on individual estimates.

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