• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

IIJ-Tech to Enhance IBPS Data Management Service; Japan's First 40 Terabyte Network Storage Service

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 2003--Internet Initiative Japan Inc. ("IIJ"; NASDAQ: IIJI), Japan's leading Internet access and comprehensive network solutions provider today announced that IIJ Technology, Inc. (IIJ-Tech), its 64.1% owned subsidiary will enhance its IBPS Data Management Service, which is the first 40 terabyte storage service in Japan, starting on October 27, 2003. IBPS (Integration and Business Platform Service) is one of several resource-on-demand services that IIJ-Tech provides. The service consists of data storage and management on systems that have been built by and are operated at the IIJ group data center. With the new improvements, customers will now have access to even greater, more flexible storage capacity at a reasonable price.

"More than ever, customers need network storage to centrally manage their accumulated information resources and to lower management costs and other TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) elements," said Koichi Suzuki, President and CEO of IIJ. "Yet customers using other storage systems are faced with an array of problems, including high costs, lost time spent on data backups, and the arduous task of selecting storage that is suited to the sensitivity of the data. The IIJ Group solves these problems with this new service."

Advantages of the expanded IBPS Data Management Service

1. Several available configurations
Customers can select a storage service that fits their service
requirements. The premium-tier service is for high-security
data management needs, while the middle-tier service is
sufficient for standard data management situations.

2. Greatly reduced costs
The reasonably priced and secure middle-tier service can help
customers reduce their storage costs. The new IBPS Data
Management Service costs as little as 1/5th of earlier
versions.

3. High-speed backup
High-speed, low-cost, disk-to-disk backups are also available.
This makes data searches easy, and the user no longer has
to spend the time and effort associated with tape storage
backups.

This latest system evolution is the culmination of several joint efforts, where the planning and design was provided by IIJ-Tech and implementation assistance was received from Information Services International - Dentsu, Ltd., Kanematsu Electronics Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd. (HP Japan), and Brocade Communications Systems K.K. (Brocade). The virtual technology component uses SANsymphony(tm) which was developed by DataCore Software Corporation in the U.S. and provided by KEL. In addition, the system uses the integrated SAN switch (FC switch) from Brocade and support provided by HP Japan.

IBPS service improvements that are planned for the future include lower per-unit storage costs, broader service areas, virus protection, encryption, a multi-protocol interface and other high value added services.

About IBPS

IBPS provides a selection of "parts" (various resources) from which to chose, enabling customers to build and operate a system to customer specifications, while reducing the startup costs and lead times normally associated with large-scale system construction. Customer system are operated and monitored by IIJ-Tech, which greatly reduces the customer's TCO. IIJ-Tech has built and provides total system administration support for systems for many enterprise class applications, including online securities trading sites, e-commerce sites, product portals, and search engines.

About IIJ

Founded in 1992, Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ, NASDAQ: IIJI) is Japan's leading Internet-access and comprehensive network solutions provider. The company has built one of the largest Internet backbone networks in Japan, and between Japan and the United States. IIJ and its group of companies provide total network solutions that mainly cater to high-end corporate customers. Services range from the delivery of new generation network services over an optical-fiber infrastructure that is optimized for data communications, to the construction of pan-Asian IP backbone networks. The company also offers high-quality systems integration and security services, internet access, hosting/housing, and content design.

About IIJ-Tech

IIJ Technology Inc. (IIJ-Tech) was established in November 1996 by IIJ, Sumitomo Corp., Itochu Corp., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Hitachi Software Engineering, Sun Microsystems, Toyota, Hewlett Packard Japan and others. IIJ-Tech provides comprehensive Internet systems integration and consulting services for corporate networks and e-commerce systems.

The statements within this release contain forward-looking statements about our future plans that involve risk and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents filed by Internet Initiative Japan Inc. with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on Forms 20-F and 6-K, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

More News in this Category