Tech Shout!

The world’s largest software maker Microsoft has signed a cross-licensing agreement with Japan’s third-largest electronics conglomerate NEC to share patents and work cohesively on corporate networking and server products. Microsoft is expected to offer software and business services that will be packaged with NEC’s server hardware and routers.

According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, “NEC has been the top share vendor in PCs in Japan for 25 years. It has also been the leader for the last 10 years consecutively in servers. We look forward to what we can do with their great technology in the future.”

The agreement was signed as part of a broader alliance covering product development cooperation in several different technology areas. The work will include integration of NEC’s Univerge servers with Microsoft’s Live Communications Server 2005 to strengthen NEC’s VoIP (voice over IP) offerings.

“This stepped-up cooperation will give us an impetus to expand our market not only in Japan but globally,” NEC President Kaoru Yano said. The two companies did not reveal as to much contribution they expect from the new business ties in revenue or profit terms.

Microsoft decided in December 2003 to pursue patent cross-licensing agreements with key partners. It has since signed a number of deals with companies including Siemens, SAP and Toshiba.