TWST: Let's begin with a brief overview of Internet Initiative Japan.
Mr. Suzuki: IIJ, established in 1992, is the pioneer of Japanese commercial Internet service providers, or ISPs. We are also one of the first ISPs in the Asian area. While I recognize that independent ISPs around the world have been bought by carriers, we are one of the few independent ISPs. In 1996, when many companies participated in this business, the competition became very severe and the Internet connectivity prices heavily dropped. At that time, we shifted our business and focused on the big blue-chip companies, who appreciate and value our service and reliable operation services. Thus, we started as an ISP and have expanded our business to providing Internet connectivity, outsourcing and systems-integration services to over 6,500 Japanese blue-chip companies, including carriers, governmental organizations and individual users.
We are a group of highly motivated and skilled top-level IP engineers in Japan, and our expertise lies in IP-related service development and R&D. We are well known for our high engineering skills and network support skills. The way IIJ has constructed and operates one of the largest Internet backbone infrastructure and fully in-house develops our services is what differentiates ourselves from the so-called communication carriers like NTT and the KDDI, whose expertise is in telephone and have little understanding of IP technology.
The services we provide today are basic but indispensable services for companies' information systems. Over 80% of our revenues are recurring-type revenues. Therefore, despite the weak Japanese economic situation, we have kept a fairly steady growth.
TWST: What are some of the dynamics and trends you see unfolding in the connectivity, outsourcing and systems-integration services space today, and what will continue to fuel growth for IIJI?
