Making a rare statement in support of
a commercial alliance, Prime Minister Tony Blair congratulated
The Dialog Corp.
and Fujitsu of Japan for
concluding a software licensing agreement.
Blair called the deal “a
significant and very welcome development in Anglo-Japanese
trading relations.”
The new agreement, announced Wednesday, means that Fujitsu
will be able to deploy Dialog’s InfoSort software in its
products and services, while incorporating Dialog’s online
services into solutions for its customers worldwide.
Fujitsu plans to develop develop Japanese versions
of both the InfoSort indexing and categorisation software and
Dialog’s knowledge management solution, LiveIntranet.
“Fujitsu’s interest
in such a wide ranging alliance was ignited by our acquisition
of Knight Ridder Information, which gave us a true global presence
and expanded our breadth of information services a hundred fold,” said Dan Wagner, Dialog’s chief executive.
“For the past 18 months, we have been in negotiation with
Fujitsu to conclude this landmark agreement which endorses the
support received from those investors who have shared our vision
since that time.”
Dialog stands to gain substantial revenues as a result of the
agreement, receiving royalties for licenses, services and
support, plus further royalties for sales of online services
and InfoSort sales.
By midday Wednesday, Dialog’s shares had risen over ten percent on the news.
