Fujitsu Merges Hardware/Software, Services into New Company

Fujitsu Group has established a new company, Fujitsu North America Holding, to serve as the central clearinghouse for Fujitsu's IT products and services base in North America.

The new corporate entity, which opens for business Oct. 1, will combine Fujitsu Consulting, Fujitsu Computer Systems and Fujitsu Transaction Solutions in one unified corporate structure.

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The announcement is similar to the recent Hewlett-Packard/EDS merger in that it represents the incorporation of one of the world's top five software and hardware businesses with one of the largest IT services providers.

Despite the lagging macroeconomy, the IT services sector continues to be a high-growth area. Combining IT services functions with a vendor's core businesses provides administrative economies that generally make good fiscal sense and help enable revenue growth. It also makes life easier in many ways for customers, who can be routed through a corporate structure quicker and more efficiently.

"Consolidating each of the three companies' IT strengths under one structure will generate greater synergies and enable the new organization to better respond to client needs," Farhat Ali, who will serve as president and CEO of the new company, said in a statement. Ali currently is president of Fujitsu Computer Systems.

"With revenues approaching $2 billion annually, the combination of the three companies will rank Fujitsu among the top North American IT services and solutions companies," Ali said. "The benefits of a business of that scale include improved responsiveness to client needs, faster time to market with integrated value-added solutions, greater market presence, improved operational efficiencies and additional support from our key alliance partners."