Every year, Fujitsu Technology Solutions (FTS) holds a Fujitsu Forum event at the ICM in Munich, close to its European headquarters in Augsburg and we get along, with thousands of Fujitsu end users, partners and suppliers, to have a look at what it is doing. The topic this year was ‘Co-Creation’.
Of course, one big topic of discussion was the takeover of the Fujitsu Client Computing business in Japan by Lenovo that we reported on last week (Fujitsu & Lenovo Make a Deal – Finally!). That company is based in Japan and although there are a lot of client business groups in Augsburg, including PCs, workstations and displays, these groups are legally a part of FTS, so the precise implications of the takeover for Europe are not clear. We heard at the event that some functions, such as purchasing, which are possible to globalise, are concerned that they might be downsized locally, but at the moment, it is far from clear.
At the event in Munich, there was a very strong emphasis on software and services with a lot of focus on data centres, big data and IoT. Client computing was represented, but becomes less significant at the event each year. There was a good area devoted to displays and it seems that some of the company’s biggest successful corporate and public tender wins in recent months have been in displays, so the feeling in the Displays group (which is globally centred in Augsburg for Fujitsu) is quite positive.
We also attended a couple of talks, but, again, there was less emphasis on client devices and technology than in previous years.
