QPlease give us an outline of your business.

With the Internet business expanding in recent years, more and more companies are discovering that they require high quality Internet service. In particular, for financial entities such as banks, secure and stable Internet service is an important factor in their business success.

One of the features of our service is “Intelligent Routing,”for which we’ve acquired a patent in the U.S. This function allows the best, most stable quality in Internet connection by avoiding congestion and Internet failure, instead navigating and routing traffic through its most proper path. Additionally, direct connections with multiple primary providers assure high redundancy. Therefore, we can provide our corporate customers service that features “stable quality,” “high reliability” and “quick response” in an otherwise unstable network.

* Intelligent routing (optimum route selection) technology uses a unique routing search software, which determines and sends data from multiple Internet backbones to target addresses.

QPlease tell us about your efforts in branching out to Osaka.

Ever since our Internet business for corporations was founded in Tokyo, we’ve always been thinking about how to expand it. We explored some ideas about expanding our business area and branching into new areas, and came to the conclusion that we should emphasize horizontal development of our main product. That’s why we decided to expand our business area. We chose Osaka as another base because it has an adequate economic infrastructure, market scale and network for major carriers that’s just as good as Tokyo’s. Detailed examples include Internet traffic. At one time, Japanese Internet traffic was concentrated in Tokyo, but several years ago, Internet Exchange (IX), an Internet traffic exchange system, was constructed in Osaka. With cable access now available in the Kansai region, it became possible to obtain solid Internet backing.

QWhat kind of feedback have you gotten concerning your expansion into Osaka?

We’re still in the feeding stage at this time, but we’ve already acquired three corporate clients, one foreign-affiliated and two are Japanese. I can say we’ve had a smooth start. Even though some of our business here is still in the trial-and-error stage, we’ve had the opportunity to talk to clients. We think it’s a favorable beginning to some degree.

QWhich business categories and fields are you targeting in Osaka?

We’re looking at corporations that own financial field-related entities, online game sites, and businesses conducting teleconferencing and online education, such as e-learning, all of which emphasize real-time operation. However, since we’ve only been in the Osaka area a short time, I think it’s important we find strong local partners. The way people in Osaka conduct business is different from the way they do in Tokyo, so we hope to do business together with corporations rooted in Osaka while still sharing business values and getting them to understand our company’s value. We would like to provide complete, value-added service with corporations that offer services different than ours.

QDoes INAP in the U.S. also have many clients in the financial field?

INAP in the U.S. has a lot of customers in the financial field, but they also have clients in any number of different business fields.

Getting back to business in Japan, live broadcasts of parliamentary proceedings of the House of Representatives are distributed on the Internet. We provide the backbone service for these broadcasts. When users access the House of Representatives site, whatever access provider they use, the data is equally and efficiently delivered using our Intelligent Routing.

QWhat does INAP in the U.S. say about the Osaka base?

Initially, INAP was very cautious about this investment, but we reached agreement by promising to keep initial costs to a minimum. They’re happy that we could cut costs even lower than planned by opening our office in the L-Osaka IT Incubator. We understand their expectations of achieving positive results as soon as possible, which is an American corporate trend, but we still feel it will take 1 to 2 years for this startup to get results.

QHow have the services been provided by O-BIC?

We initially contacted O-BIC in August 2005, requesting information regarding data centers in Osaka. Soon after, we received a response and the project went ahead without a hitch. Since foreign-affiliated corporations demand speed, it was very important for us to receive a quick response, which we got. Another important point is that O-BIC provided us with information from neutral parties.

We were therefore able to select which data center was the best for us to develop our business in Osaka. We eventually selected Osaka Internet Data Center and established an access point, P-NAP (Private Network Access Point). We really appreciate the support provided by O-BIC in establishing our branch office, not only in providing data center information, but other matters as well, including helping us look for office space.

QFinally, please tell us about what you expect from O-BIC in the future?

Aftercare. A new corporation doesn’t have horizontal connections in the local area. We want O-BIC to become an organizer for companies like ourselves. We hope they act as a facilitator by holding seminars and offering various opportunities for exchange with other companies and organizations.