Oki 2000 Annual Report Download - page 5

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“service bridges” and actively participating in the fields
of network infrastructure and semiconductors. In the
system solutions segment, a high customer contact
area, we are expanding our revenue base by shifting
focus from hardware to software and services. We are
developing unique systems for key customer markets in
the finance, travel and public administration industries.
Reflecting the on-going trend of consolidation in the
financial industry, we anticipate that financial institutions
will make new investments to integrate their systems
upon merger. We will be able to further enhance our
strength in the finance industry by focusing on products
such as automated teller machines (ATMs), branch man-
agement systems and cash handling systems. With the
continued introduction of ATMs to convenience stores,
we intend to aggressively market our solutions to
financial institutions and ATMs management companies.
Internet security systems are another indispensable
product. We are striving to secure alliances with other
companies to build more secure systems for our
customers. We are also concentrating on intelligent
transport systems (ITS). We have received orders for
electronic toll collection (ETC) systems for highways
and are working to commercialize a parking manage-
ment system that utilizes an ETC road vehicle communi-
cation system. As already mentioned, we will focus on
the development and marketing of network printers and
vertical applications, two areas in which we have a
competitive advantage.
In multimedia messaging, we currently have 100
companies assisting us in product development and
sales for our mainstay, CTstage®, and we plan to
expand sales in this area beginning with the financial
industry. During the period under review, we developed
and launched IPstage™. This product supports corpo-
rate telecommunications infrastructures by providing
seamless and effective communications via an Internet
protocol (IP) network, integrating voice, fax and data
functions and various image media. We aim to be the
first in the industry to launch a product in this segment
and are working ever faster to establish uniform and
open architecture in response to the growing IP market.
As part of our network application service, in October
1999, we established IPnet Corp., as a one-stop, total
solution provider for IP network systems. A lineup of the
company’s services includes network planning, design,
setup, maintenance and operation.
PTOP2, our corporate Internet provider, is enjoying
the sharp increase in demand for related networking ser-
vices. PTOP has won large-scale outsourcing orders for
the integration of voice and data intranet systems. It is
also providing advanced messaging solutions for com-
pany intranets utilizing groupware, through alliances with
other providers and upgrading to next-generation Internet
Protocol-Virtual Private Network (IP-VPN).
In the network infrastructure segment, we are shifting
our business focus to IP networks. To meet the needs of
common carrier and corporate intranets, we are carrying
out full-scale development of state-of-the-art products
and systems, all based on our networking, transmission
and computer telephony technologies. We are seeking
alliances to enhance our competitive position and speed
up product development. We have also set our sights on
the market for next-generation mobile telecommunica-
tions systems and established a joint venture, Mobile
Techno Corp., to handle design and development.
We are looking to high-performance silicon-on-insulator
(SOI) material-based large-scale integrated circuits (LSI)
and those developed using our silicon platform architec-
ture (SPA). New investment will focus on logic and sys-
tem LSI devices to improve profit margins. We recently
introduced µPLATTM, an integrated development tool for
high-performance System-on-Chip LSIs. µPLATTM virtu-
ally halves the time required to develop high-speed, low-
power devices for mobile telecommunications and
personal computer (PC) peripherals, speeding up the
commercialization process. We are devoting our DRAM
LSI development to the 4 Mbit and 16 Mbit DRAMs mar-
ket to avoid low-margin, commodity products.
Overseas, we are bolstering our Asian and North
American production and sales networks. Our telecom-
munications joint venture in the People’s Republic of
China is now in full production, outputting key tele-
phones and private-branch exchanges (PBXs) with plans
to expand further. In Taiwan, we licensed our semicon-
ductor manufacturing technology to a venture company
to support production of memory chips and logic LSIs.
In North America, we merged our semiconductor
sales and development operations into a single business
unit, Oki Semiconductor Company which operates under
the auspices of Oki America, Inc. In addition to sales,
this unit now tackles everything from semiconductor re-
search and development to marketing. Oki Network
Technologies Division, another business unit in the
United States, is building up its sales and marketing net-
works for strategically important products, including our
voice over IP (VoIP) line-up.
As my message indicates, the Oki Group is gearing
up to improve its results in the coming fiscal year and
beyond. We ask our shareholders for their continued
support as the Oki Group restructures itself into a cus-
tomer-oriented, agile provider of network solutions for
the global society.
August 2000
Katsumasa Shinozuka
President and Chief Executive Officer