"NTT Com selected Opsware to automate hosting services to achieve greater efficiencies, be more cost competitive and deliver higher-value services to customers," said Kazu Yozawa, VP IT Management Services Business Division, NTT Com. "Opsware automation will allow us to achieve the highest levels of quality, security and new service capabilities."

"NTT Com is a global leader in hosting services, and we are honored to have them as our customer," said Ben Horowitz, President and CEO, Opsware Inc. "The world's leading service providers are turning to Opsware's automation software to drive efficiency and reduce costs within the data center. With Opsware automation, NTT Com will provide superior, market-leading hosting services."

The agreement with NTT Com exemplifies Opsware's expansion into Japan and the broader Asia-Pacific region. In September, Opsware announced another agreement with NEC Corporation under which NEC became Opsware's distribution partner in Japan. NEC markets and sells Opsware software and provides maintenance and customer support to Opsware users in the Japanese market.

The growth of the Internet and move to Web-based computing is creating the biggest transformation yet in IT - a shift from client/server computing to low-cost Web-based architectures. With this shift comes a massive explosion of servers and applications in data centers, resulting in massive complexity that renders traditional, manual operations unsustainable. Automation has become a necessity as IT organizations seek to become more cost-competitive, reduce data center complexity and offer higher-value services.