Tokyo data center with NTT Communications scheduled to open in November 2011
Salesforce.com to build Ruby developer community with Ruby creator Yukihiro Matsumoto
Company to invest in Toyota Motor Corporation’s global cloud platform development
Company to make strategic investment in
TOKYO (May 23, 2011) – Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing company, today announced its latest strategic investments in Japan. The goal of these investments is to drive the continued growth of Japan’s Cloud 2 industry and accelerate the availability of locally developed social, mobile, and open cloud computing services. Salesforce.com will invest in a Tokyo data center scheduled to open in November of this year; further development of the Ruby programming language in collaboration with Ruby creator Yukihiro Matsumoto; Toyota Motor Corporation’s open cloud platform development organization Toyota Media Service Co.; and e-marketing firm Netyear Group Corporation.
“Salesforce.com remains committed to Japan and to growing the Cloud 2 economy globally,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. “Through our investments, we hope to inspire and incent Japan’s innovators to transform Japanese businesses with social, mobile, and open cloud computing.”
| Salesforce.com’s Latest Strategic Investments in Japan | ||
| Tokyo Data Center with NTT Communications Scheduled to Open in November 2011 | ||
| Its build-out complete, salesforce.com’s Tokyo Data Center announced with NTT Communications in 2010, is currently in testing phase and is scheduled to be operational in November of this year. The data center was established in order to serve Japan’s rapidly growing customer base. Salesforce.com’s large customers in Japan, such as Fast Retailing, Japan Post and Sompo Japan, are world leaders in cloud computing innovation. Small and medium-sized businesses, the bedrock of the Japanese economy, also make up a large portion of salesforce.com’s customer base in Japan. | ||
| Further Development of Ruby Programming Language | ||
| Heroku, the leading Ruby cloud platform, will lend support to Ruby creator Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto’s efforts to further develop the Ruby programming language as part of a broad initiative to accelerate the growth of the Ruby developer community in Japan and worldwide. Ruby is emerging as the leading development language for social and mobile applications in the cloud. Salesforce.com acquired Heroku in December of 2010. | ||
| Investment in Toyota Media Service Co. | ||
| Salesforce.com plans to make an investment of approximately 223 million yen in Toyota Media Service Co., which oversees the Toyota Motor Corporation’s global cloud platform development. Announced on May 23, 2011, the investment will be part of salesforce.com’s strategic alliance with the Toyota Motor Corporation to build Toyota Friend, a private social network for Toyota customers and their cars. Toyota Friend will be powered by Salesforce Chatter, a private social network service for businesses. Toyota Friend will be offered, first in Japan, initially with Toyota’s electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles slated to ship in 2012. | ||
| Investment in Netyear Group Corporation | ||
| Salesforce.com will invest in the Netyear Group Corporation, which offers e-marketing and business consulting services to large enterprises. Salesforce.com has been investing in Japanese start-ups since October of 2010, when it announced a strategic investment in marketing automation firm Synergy Marketing. In March of this year, salesforce.com purchased a stake in cloud systems integrator Uhuru. All of these firms plan to develop applications with salesforce.com’s proven, open cloud computing technologies. Further, in order to accelerate its investments in Japanese companies, salesforce.com has appointed a head of strategic investments for Japan. | ||
These investments build on salesforce.com’s longstanding commitment to Japan. Recently, salesforce.com made a concerted effort to aid the victims of the March 11 disaster. The company has offered its services free of charge for 90 days to both private and public organizations offering aid to victims. SoftBank Telecom has developed a Materials Management Application using salesforce.com’s Force.com enterprise cloud computing platform, and more than 30 businesses and government entities, including the City of Chiba, the City of Sendai, and the City of Tsukuba, have also developed innovative cloud applications. In addition, the Salesforce.com Foundation has raised and donated approximately $1 million for relief efforts through a global matching fund and the contributions of executives.
About Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company that has transformed the way companies collaborate and communicate. Salesforce.com is leading the effort to bring Cloud 2, the next paradigm for computing, to the enterprise by offering its customers the social collaboration, mobility and openness that are the hallmark of this new world. The company’s platform and application services include:
- Salesforce Chatter, a private social network for your enterprise
- The Sales Cloud, for sales force automation and contact management
- The Service Cloud, for customer service and support solutions
- Radian6, for social media monitoring and engagement
- The Jigsaw Data Cloud, for ensuring data integrity and quality
- The Force.com platform, for custom application development
- Heroku, for building social and mobile apps in Ruby
- The AppExchange, the world’s leading marketplace for enterprise cloud computing applications
Salesforce.com offers the fastest path to customer success with cloud computing. As of April 30, 2011, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 97,700 customers including Allianz Commercial, Dell, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks. Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information please visit http://salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
“Safe harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements about expected investments and data center plans. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make. The risks and uncertainties referred to above include – but are not limited to – changes in business plans with respect to the planned investments in and/or alliances with Netyear Group Corporation, Toyota Media Service Co. and/or Yukihiro Matsumoto; the novelty of the type of network contemplated as part of the Toyota Friend project; difficulties or delays in finalizing the business requirements for the Toyota Friend project; difficulties or delays in developing the technology contemplated by the Toyota Friend project; delays in testing and/or in transitioning existing operations to the Tokyo data center; and general developments in the economy, financial markets, and credit markets. Further information on these and other factors that could affect the company’s financial results is included in the reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the company’s Form 10-Q that will be filed for the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2011, and our Form 10-K filed for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Information section of the company’s website at www.salesforce.com/investor. Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
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