William Auckerman

Prompted by the continuing growth of Internet traffic and the potential cost-savings for traditional telephony applications, Japanese telecommunications firms and Internet service providers are expanding their backbone networks. On March 10, International Digital Communications (IDC) announced the addition of a 155-megabit-per-second (mbps) Internet backbone connection between Japan and the US. The new line boosts IDC’s […]

With Japan’s domestic markets becoming increasingly deregulated and the Internet making a reality of “borderless enterprise,” more and more companies here are looking to advanced information technology (IT) to help them gain a competitive edge. The rapid pace of change and growing complexity of hardware and software is reinforcing the traditional Japanese preference for purchasing […]

Two bright spots in the midst of Japan’s prolonged economic slump have been the mobile phone market and the Internet. Cellular phone subscriptions, which have been growing consistently by two percent or more per month since 1996, reached 40 million in February. The number of Japanese Internet users, meanwhile, is estimated at more than 10 […]

Sanwa Bank, one of Japan’s leading financial institutions, and JCB, a global top-five credit card company with over 39 million cardholders, have joined with MasterCard International to purchase the Mondex electronic cash franchise for Japan. London-based Mondex International announced the formation of Mondex Japan on February 15. Sanwa, JCB, and MasterCard, which have exclusive rights […]

Japanese EDI (electronic data interchange) has received a boost with Sterling Commerce launching a localized version of its popular EDI messaging gateway software. The Japanese-language version of GENTRAN:Server for Microsoft Windows NT is the first product to be fully compliant with both global and domestic EDI standards. EDI accelerates, simplifies, and reduces the cost of […]