FY1998 budgets for MPT, MITI announced It's annual budget approval time again, and several major government-led information technology initiatives have won funding approval for implementation in fiscal year 1998. We'll look into several of these projects in more detail in future issues of Computing Japan, but as a point of reference, the major issues among the ministry budgets approved for FY1998 (April 1, 1998, through March 31, 1999) relating to the information and communications industries are as follows: Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
* Development of next-generation Internet-based electronic commerce systems: \832 million
* Promotion of international joint projects relating to information and communications infrastructure technologies in the Asia-Pacific region: \600 million
* Establishment of an "information barrier-free" environment for the elderly and handicapped: \474 million
* R&D for a wireless communications network using stationary stratospheric airships: \450 million
* Joint development with other ministries/agencies of public service telecommunications systems: \352 million
* Pilot trials of terrestrial digital broadcasting: \242 million
* A project for activation of multimedia-related public facilities: \238 million
* Development of information/communications technologies for monitoring global environmental changes: \206 million
* R&D of technologies for constructing a "total digital network": \197 million
* Promotion of home-based "telework": \158 million
* R&D for a global mobile communications system using a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite network: \145 million
* Promoting the creation of an information and communications hub in Okinawa: \119 million
* Promotion of GIS construction: \60 million
* International joint research on digital broadcast methods: \13 million
* Promotion of global business expansion of telecommunications carriers: \9 million
Ministry of International Trade and Industry
* Development of "hyper-advanced" electronics technologies: \4.68 billion
* Development of business application software for small- and medium-sized companies: \3.76 billion
* Development of "femto-second" technology: \1.78 billion
* Construction of an advanced distribution "informatization" system: \930 million
* A project targeting establishment of an advanced "informatization" promotion infrastructure: \850 million
* R&D of CALS (commerce at light speed) systems: \820 million
* Establishment of a market environment for multimedia contents: \670 million
* Promotion of "informatization" of road traffic management: \450 million
* Development and verification of electronic commerce-related infrastructure technologies: \430 million
* Support for development of system LSIs at venture companies and small- and medium-sized companies: \340 million
* Promotion of "informatization" in the educational field: \330 million
NEC sinks more into Packard Bell-NEC NEC announced in late December that the company will provide an additional $300 million to Packard Bell-NEC (PB-NEC), the company that was formed by Packard Bell, NEC, and Bull in July 1996. In return for the additional financial support to PB-NEC, NEC's ownership share of preferred stock (with voting rights) increases to 49%. As a result, the voting shares of stock held by the founders of Packard Bell will decrease from 60.32% to 38.38%, and those held by Bull will decrease from 19.84% to 12.62%.
According to NEC, PB-NEC will focus more on the corporate business segment for its growth in the North American market. PB-NEC will target making an IPO (initial public offering) of stock at the end of 1998.
The number of PB-NEC board directors dispatched from NEC will increase from two to three, while Packard Bell's directors will go from five to four. The number of Bull directors, two, will remain unchanged. Since its initial support in 1996, NEC has now invested some $113.5 billion in PB-NEC. "We think that our $100 billion investment [so far] is within the appropriate range, considering the strategic importance of our overall PC business which targets securing a 10% global market share," says Seijiro Yokoyama, an NEC senior executive vice president. "Since PB-NEC's business in Europe has been successful, we anticipate the growth of their business in the North American market through the expansion of their corporate segment share."
PB-NEC's North American operations were in the red in 1997, however. This was mainly because of the company's struggle in the consumer market, in which $1,000-range PCs were introduced. NEC says that it intends to put PB-NEC's business in the North American market into the black within six months through expansion of the corporate segment. |
