Mitsui Partners With Verizon Business to Drive Business Transformation, Global Growth

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Under a new strategic agreement worth almost $100 million, Verizon Business is helping Mitsui build a new, fully managed global communications and IT platform to support the company's goal of expanding its reach as a global business operator.

Verizon Business will deploy and manage an integrated global IT, communications, data center and networking solution, supported by comprehensive managed services, security and IT consulting offerings.  

Global Business Challenges

By integrating its capabilities and expertise in information, logistics and financial technology across its widespread operations, Mitsui believes it will operate more efficiently and profitably while maximizing its chances to gain new business.  Specifically, the company wanted to be able to respond quickly to changes in its customers' operations, concentrating knowledge and expertise from across its globally dispersed business units to offer focused, value-added solutions, while providing secure, high-speed and cost-effective end-to-end trading services.

Mitsui had previously worked with regional carriers around the globe, leading to duplicate platforms, processes and costs. The company sought an organization that could consolidate and standardize its IT requirements onto a single global platform and help to orchestrate change on behalf of the group as a whole.

The Verizon Business Solution

Verizon Business proposed a comprehensive mix of managed solutions for Mitsui, including a scalable, high-capacity global managed Private IP network for the company's voice and data communications that will serve as the foundation for new collaboration services such as audio, net and video conferencing.  Verizon Business will manage Mitsui's key business applications in both Mitsui's own data centers and Verizon Business's fully redundant, secure data centers, and will also manage the company's IP PBX services, helping Mitsui transition its telephony services to a secure and resilient voice-over-IP platform. This will be realized in conjunction with Mitsui's existing information technology partners -- Fujitsu, Hitachi, MKI and NEC.

Additionally, Verizon Business will provide managed e-mail, managed network security services and comprehensive desktop support, ensuring continuous availability and improved resiliency and reliability.  Verizon Business is also providing expert staff around the globe to support and enhance Mitsui's own team.  

These services are being made available to Mitsui, and its subsidiaries and group companies, in a phased implementation. With this IT platform in place, Mitsui, Verizon Business and Mitsui's existing information technology partners will then collaborate to build a new business ecosystem leveraging the companies' global strengths in delivering strategic services and solutions to other multinationals in Japan and around the world.

Seiichi Tanaka, representative director, executive vice president, chief information officer and chief privacy officer of Mitsui & Co. Ltd., said: "Key criteria for us in choosing a business partner were global reach and corporate culture. In Verizon Business we saw a company that understood our challenges, with the capabilities not only to build a platform to support our business ambitions, but also to help expand our business horizons. The Verizon Business team is already tightly integrated into Mitsui's global organization, and we look forward to working together to realize our mutual ambitions over the coming years."

Blair Crump, group president, worldwide sales and services for Verizon Business, said: "Our relationship with Mitsui shows how cultural and business similarities can provide a firm foundation for mutually beneficial business opportunities. With our shared commitment to customer service and focus on transitioning to a global solutions approach, this new partnership has been a good match at every level, from our executives on down. It's all about a common business vision and a mutual desire to explore possibilities to deliver excellence in business solutions."

Mitsui & Co. Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, employs around 5,900 people in 152 offices in 65 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1876.  Today the Mitsui Group incorporates more than 1,000 subsidiaries and associated companies, employing almost 40,000 people in various industry sectors, including iron and steel products, mineral and metal resources, infrastructure projects, motor vehicles, marine and aerospace, chemicals, energy, foods and retail, consumer services, information, electronics and telecommunications, financial markets and transportation logistics.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions.  We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees -- enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment.  Many of the world's largest businesses and governments -- including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions – rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

SOURCE Verizon Business