Microsoft, Japan's NTT in Multimedia Deal

MICROSOFT Corporation and Japanese telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. have agreed to cooperate in multimedia communications technology, NTT President Masashi Kojima said Wednesday.

The companies will develop services to allow users to access multimedia information on a communications network in Japan. The alliance will combine NTT networking technology with Microsoft's expertise in operating system software, Mr. Kojima said.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said in a statement, ``Microsoft believes the distribution of digital information using CD-ROM, phone lines, wireless technologies, and future broadband networks will have a large and beneficial impact on many aspects of business and society.''

The two companies are working to ensure compatibility between Microsoft's At Work system software and NTT's enhanced facsimile network service, F-Net. Kojima said the tie-up with Microsoft was part of NTT's plan to develop its multimedia business.