OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2015. NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) and Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronic manufacturing service (EMS) provider, announced today that the two companies are entering into a data center business partnership.

Under the partnership, NEC will bring in its customers and deploy its Software Defined Networking (SDN) products and data center operation and management solutions to support Foxconn in building an innovative Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform in Foxconn Kaohsiung Data Center. NEC will also collaborate with Foxconn on business development for the new platform through potential opportunities with customers requiring IaaS solutions in Taiwan.

To create a state-of-the-art IaaS platform, NEC will deploy its latest SDN-related products and solutions, including the UNIVERGE PF Series, the world's first commercially-available SDN solution (*), as well as the MasterScope data center operation and management solution.

One advantage of virtualizing physical networks with SDN is that it allows the building of flexible, software-controllable networks. As these network configurations can be easily modified, SDN is the ideal technology for IaaS providers who need to flexibly adapt to the needs of a range of customers.

As a global technology leader, Foxconn has made strategic investments in areas such as data center construction as it continues to build a diversified business portfolio. This new partnership is another step in that process.

Ed Wu, Corporate Executive Vice President, Foxconn, said: "Information processing technology is a cornerstone in Foxconn's sustainable business strategy and we are pleased to be working with an industry-leading company like NEC to boost our capabilities in data center solutions and to augment our comprehensive suite of information and communications technology solutions. We are committed to investing in the development of high-quality, innovative products and services that meet the needs of our customers and consumers, enabling them to tap the immense opportunities in the Big Data era."

"We are proud to contribute to the commercialization of Foxconn's data centers integrated with SDN technology. Virtualized data centers enable flexible configuration and rapid provisioning of IT resources, bringing significant benefits to data center operators and users alike," said Takayuki Morita, Executive Vice President, NEC Corporation. "NEC is a market leader in the SDN field, with an installation record that includes hundreds of systems for customers worldwide. Utilizing our extensive experience and expertise, we are committed to providing support for the smooth operation of Foxconn's data centers in Taiwan, while seeking to broaden our collaboration in order to promote the global expansion of Foxconn's data center business."