IBM Japan Ltd. Presents at Japan Institutional Investment Forum, Apr-24-2012 11:45 AM. Venue: Imperial Hotel Toyko, 1-1, Uchisaiwai-cho 1-chrome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8558, Japan. Speakers: Akihiko Ohwa, Manager of Pension Fund, Treasury.

Tokyo District Court ordered IBM Japan Ltd. to pay some JPY 7.41 billion in damages to Suruga Bank over an alleged breach of contract that forced the lender to call off the development of a main computer system for its banking operations. Presiding judge Yuzuru Takahashi also approved a provisional execution of the payment. The court rejected a countersuit filed by IBM Japan in which the International Business Machines Corp. unit sought roughly JPY 12.55 billion in payments from Suruga Bank. In September 2004, Suruga Bank entrusted IBM Japan to develop a new system that was scheduled to be launched in fiscal 2008 that ended in March 2009. Suruga Bank had demanded JPY 11.58 billion from IBM Japan for development fees paid and earnings lost due to the cancellation. IBM Japan plans to appeal the order. The court's conclusion that the company is responsible is unreasonable and IBM Japan has fully fulfilled its obligations to Suruga Bank.

IBM Japan Ltd. announced that it will set up data centers for its LotusLive cloud-based networking and collaboration service in Japan. The planned facility, IBM Corp.'s first such sites outside the U.S., will be established within IBM Japan's existing data centers in the greater Tokyo and Osaka regions. The new sites will be equipped with computers capable of handling several million users when they debut, which is scheduled for late September. LotusLive, a corporate Web-based service for sending and receiving messages, as well as sharing files and managing schedules, was previously provided from U.S. data centers to customers around the world.