Fujitsu UK & Ireland

Fujitsu Announces ValueCENTER Stored Value Card Management in a Cloud Environment

Migrating in-house gift card management to the Windows Azure platform and Fujitsu Hybrid Cloud Services reduces infrastructure costs and footprint, shifts capital costs to more predictable operational costs

London, 16th January 2012 — National Retail Federation Convention – Fujitsu today announced that it will begin offering its ValueCENTER™ gift card management technology via the cloud. Fujitsu ValueCENTER technology offers a complete solution for managing gift card and other stored value cards. The new cloud implementation of ValueCENTER software will integrate with existing hosted and on-premise line-of-business systems using Fujitsu Hybrid Cloud Services for Windows Azure. By migrating in-house gift card management operations to the cloud, retailers can reduce hardware and software costs, shrink their IT footprint, shift a significant capital cost to a more predictable, subscription-based operational cost, and more easily comply with different data security and privacy regulations around the world.

“Our customers have been asking for ValueCENTER software in a subscription model, and we are happy to satisfy this request in a way that makes migration easy and painless,” said Marc Janssens, Vice President, Retail Operations. “Because the Fujitsu Retail Suite runs on the Microsoft software platform with Microsoft .NET, putting components into Windows Azure was a natural way to make that happen. ValueCENTER software in the cloud is the fastest and most cost-effective solution for any retailer that needs to implement or enhance a gift card management solution to quickly respond to business or competitive conditions.”

The ValueCENTER gift card management service in the cloud gives retailers the tools they need to implement a gift card program, providing an easy-to-use interface for issuing and accepting cards. Unlike third-party transaction-fee-based programs, ValueCENTER technology provides in-house flexibility and control so retailers can adapt their gift card rules to their customer service policies and marketing plans. And, as an enterprise application, the ValueCENTER solution has no transaction fees. Thanks to Fujitsu Hybrid Cloud Services, the ValueCENTER service components running in Windows Azure can securely integrate with existing on-customer-premise or Fujitsu global cloud platform-based front-end systems, such as point-of-sale (POS) systems, reporting and analytics solutions, Web applications and customer relationship management software. This allows retailers to take full advantage of the benefits of cloud computing while protecting their investment in existing systems and complying with all regulations related to data security and privacy.

Fujitsu is offering its cloud-based ValueCENTER application via a flexible subscription-based pricing model that allows retailers to adjust to peak and non-peak sales periods. Fujitsu also offers migration services for retailers and ISVs wishing to move in-house systems to the cloud.

Fujitsu announced its Global Cloud Platform service powered by Windows Azure on June 7, 2011, and announced its Hybrid Cloud Services on November 16, 2011. Hybrid Cloud Services links Windows Azure-based components to Windows Server-based components running on a customer private cloud and to local instances of Fujitsu Cloud platforms.

“We are very excited about this new cloud offering from Fujitsu, as it demonstrates the value-added services that our cloud partnership can deliver to enterprise customers,” said Mark Hill, Vice President, Enterprise Partners at Microsoft. “The deployment of the Fujitsu ValueCENTER solution through a hybrid cloud model based on our Windows Azure platform and the Fujitsu global cloud platform shows how we can jointly deliver business value while addressing requirements for on-premise integration and conforming to our client’s specific security requirements.”

Vice President and Principal Analyst Nigel Fenwick recommends in a July 2010 independent Forrester Research, Inc. report, Industry Innovation: Retail, that retail CIOs examine cloud’s potential for highly variable processing demands. The report states that “secure cloud computing services can provide processing capacity to cope with peak demand periods such as the holiday shopping season.”

Availability

The cloud-based Fujitsu ValueCENTER Stored Value Card Management solution will be available in Spring 2012.

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About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is a leading provider of information and communication technology (ICT)-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 170,000 employees supporting customers in over 100 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (US$55 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com

Fujitsu UK and Ireland is a leading IT systems, services and products company employing 11,400 people with an annual revenue of £1.7 billion. Its business is in enabling its customers to realise their objectives by exploiting information technology through its integrated product and service portfolio. This includes consulting, applications, systems integration, managed services and product for customers in the private and public sectors including retail, financial services, telecoms, government, defence and consumer sectors. For more information, please see: http://uk.fujitsu.com

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