Microsystems, Metrodata tie up

JAKARTA (JP): Sun Microsystems Inc of Singapore announced on Wednesday its plan to form a joint venture with PT e- Metrodata.Com to distribute its products and services in Indonesia.

In the new US$5 million company to be called PT Sunmicrosystem Indonesia, Singapore's leading provider of industrial hardware and software has a 49 percent equity while e-Metrodata, a subsidiary of publicly listed PT Metrodata Electronic, controls the rest.

The new joint venture is expected to be formed in January and begin operation in the first quarter of 2001, the two companies said in a joint statement.

Sunmicrosystem Indonesia will also actively market Sun Microsystems' e-commerce and networking solutions.

Vice president of Sun's Asia South Lionel Lim said that Indonesia and its 210 million people offered not only a potentially lucrative market, but also a source of skilled workers for the dotcom industry.

The joint venture strengthens an existing arrangement because Metrodata Electronics has been Sun's principal distributor of hardware and software solutions in Indonesia since 1990. (02)