IIJ, SAS Japan and ZEAL to Offer "Cloud Analytics Solution" to Medium-Sized Enterprises

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TOKYO-January 14, 2015-Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ), SAS Institute Japan Ltd. (SAS), and ZEAL Corporation (ZEAL), today announced a trilateral collaboration to offer their new "Cloud Analytics Solution" geared towards medium-sized enterprises which are confronted with a shortage of data utilization skills and IT assets. This solution enables customers to analyze and visualize the data necessary to conduct business on the cloud computing.

The Cloud Analytics Solution unifies the strengths of each company; the self-service analytics and business intelligence (BI)(*1) products of SAS, the BI systems architecture and operations technique developed over many years of ZEAL, and the cloud computing platform and its operations technology of IIJ.

In recent years, medium-size enterprises have been searching for a way to more actively utilize accumulated data in their respective business activities, such as the resolution of various business challenges and investment decisions for emerging market opportunities. The use of analytics for this purpose is indispensable in solving challenges like forecasting, rather than simply analyzing and summarizing historical data within a BI framework. However, the introduction of data analytics needs the sufficient human resources, data management, and system infrastructure. Most medium-enterprises have found it difficult to deal with these operational burdens in comparison with well-established large enterprises.
The Cloud Analytics Solution negates the need for cumbersome hardware procurement and subsequent software selection. It provides a 'total solution' for the customer's data analysis needs, including both the design and operation of optimal statistical analysis. The customer simply needs to prepare the data, and then harness the actual business knowledge obtained.

• (*1)Business Intelligence (BI): the methods and technologies assisting a corporation with business decision-making through the accumulation, analysis, and processing of data.

Details of the Collaboration

This trilateral collaboration between IIJ, SAS and ZEAL will provide customers with the new Cloud Analytics Solution incorporating SAS's data analysis environment which combines and embeds their BI system introduction and data analysis consulting services and their self-service data exploration product called "SAS® Visual Analytics" with IIJ's cloud service called "IIJ GIO Service".

The data analysis environment consists of a proprietary cloud computing environment which combines the Apache Hadoop Ecosystem allowing analysis operations on large data sets, and the Greenplum Database(*2). This combination is designed to fully optimize the features of the SAS Visual Analytics service. Additionally, ZEAL will support a series of cycles from KPI decisions to effects measurements on data utilization. This will result in assistance to customers wishing to begin utilizing their accumulated data, as well as those customers wishing to engage in more sophisticated breakdown, forecasting and statistical analysis of large data sets. As such, it will meet the varied analytics utilization needs of medium-size enterprises. This will be the first time SAS Visual Analytics will be offered on a cloud platform in Japan, and ZEAL will become the first SAS Visual Analytics service partner in Japan.

The three companies have set the sales target of implementation by 50 companies by the end of the 2015 fiscal year, initially with service provision for "Demand Forecasting" in the manufacturing industry and "Targeted Marketing Analysis" in the distribution and retail industries, and then sequentially expanding the range to other industries.

• (*2)Database Product for Data Warehouses (DWH): A dedicated database product with features and performance optimized for DWH, with the goal of extraction and analysis of large volumes of accumulated time sequential data.

Pricing Information

	Production Environment	Verification Environment (PoC)
Initial cost (excluding tax)	From JPY 4,750,000	From JPY 1,500,000 (*) Up to a maximum of two months use
Monthly cost (excluding tax)	From JPY 300,000

Production Environment: SAS Visual Analytics server, Hadoop or DWH server, plus integration and support.
PoC Environment: Possible operations include the creation of reports using customer data, performance verification, etc.

About IIJ

Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ) was established in 1992 as the first Japanese commercial Internet service provider. At present, the IIJ Group provides more than 8,500 corporate customers with wide-ranging comprehensive network solutions from Internet connections, outsourcing services, WAN services, and a variety of cloud-based network services to systems integration services such as, system architecture and integration. For more information about IIJ, visit the IIJ Web site at http://www.iij.ad.jp/en/.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and is the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 70,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®. Headquarters: Cary, North Carolina, USA. Employees: 13,000 (Japan: approx. 250). For more information about SAS, visit the SAS Web site at http://www.sas.com/.

About ZEAL

ZEAL Corporation has acquired a great variety of experience and know-how in a history which dates back to the time before the term "business intelligence" was widely recognized or understood in Japan, and focuses on playing an important role in the future of corporate business. In addition to its knowledge based on more than 20 years of experience in the BI field, it offers advanced services using the latest 'big data' technology. It helps its customers, both new ones wishing to make use of BI and existing ones wishing to make the shift to more sophisticated data analysis, find solutions to their business challenges via its wealth of knowledge and experience acquired through years of practical use in the field. For more information about ZEAL, visit the ZEAL Web site at http://www.zdh.co.jp/.(Japanese text only.)

The statements within this release contain forward-looking statements about our future plans that involve risk and uncertainty. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents furnished by Internet Initiative Japan Inc. with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on Forms 20-F and 6-K, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

For inquiries, contact

IIJ Corporate Communications

• +81-3-5205-6310
• +81-3-5205-6377
• press@iij.ad.jp

SAS Institute Japan Public Relations Representatives

• +81-3-6434-3700
• jpnpress@sas.com
• http://www.sas.com/

ZEAL Corporation

• +81-3-5422-8477
• sales-info@zdh.co.jp
• http://www.zdh.co.jp/service/bigdata/sasiijgio.html (Japanese text only.)