ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”), ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Satoshi Kikuchi, President & CEO; hereinafter “CTC”) and iret, inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Shohei Saito, President and CEO; hereinafter “iret”) announced today that they had signed a business partnership agreement for the objective of operating systems, construction and development of new services using Amazon Web Services (hereinafter “AWS”) and other cloud services for clients.

Traditionally, mission-critical and business systems at companies and government offices were mainly operated on premises. However, a shift towards the public cloud is now gathering momentum. The Japanese public cloud market scale is expected to grow from 829.5 billion yen in fiscal 2017 to more than 1,700 billion yen in fiscal 2022.*¹ In addition, domestic businesses’ expenditures amounted to approximately 8 trillion yen, with a growth rate of 1.3%, in the IT sector and to nearly 3.8 trillion yen, with a growth rate of 3.1%*², in the Line of Business (LOB) sector.*³ It is hence anticipated that more and more IT projects will be implemented through collaboration between the IT sector and the LOB sector.

CTC’s strengths in the construction and operation of large systems incorporating cloud computing for the IT sector, whereas iret is among the best in Japan in their technological capabilities concerning AWS and other cloud services for the LOB sector and their expertise in the operation of these services. ITOCHU has strong networks inside and outside Japan as well as business development capabilities. Under the business partnership recently formed, the three companies will work together and combine their customer bases to construct large-sized systems for clients and develop new services in a hybrid environment that utilizes both on-premise and cloud services. In addition, they will consider creating new cloud service operations not only for domestic customers working on digital transformation*⁴ with the use of cloud technologies but also for overseas customers operating their services across the globe. They will thus provide a one-stop service covering creation to support for digital businesses offered in the hybrid environment.

CTC has an ample track record in the construction and operation of large-sized systems on premises and in the cloud in Japan and overseas, including in the ASEAN region. It thus has the technological strength to deal with multiple vendors. Additionally, offering AWS-based environment construction and operation services, it has worked to introduce these services to large companies in distribution, manufacturing, and other industries.
iret is a cloud integrator with significant achievements in AWS and other cloud services. It is strong in constructing advanced service foundations particularly in the LOB sector. It offers a one-stop service including development of systems and applications, construction and operation of infrastructure, and design production. Its cloudpack fully-managed service, covering from introduction and design to operation and maintenance of cloud services, has already been provided to at least 1,200 companies. Both CTC and iret have been certified as APN Premier Consulting Partners. This status is at the top level in the AWS Partner Program.
ITOCHU has approximately 110 offices in 63 different countries operating a wide variety of businesses in Japan and around the world in the areas of textiles, machinery, metals and minerals, energy, chemicals, food, general products, realty, information and communications technology, and finance. For the purpose of supporting digital transformation (DX), the whole of the ITOCHU Group is pushing ahead with digitalization and data utilization. Taking advantage of its extensive networks, including those outside Japan, ITOCHU will be in charge of new business development and partnering strategies with the active use of the cloud.