Fujitsu Sells US PBX Business Unit

Electronic News, Sept 17, 2001 by Heidi Elliott, Chris Druce, Steve Bush

FURRISU LTD. HAS ANNOUNCED THE SALE OF Fujitsu Business Communication Systems (FBCS), its PBX business unit based in Irvine, Calif. The unit is part of the company's Telecommunications division, and the move is in-line with restructuring plans announced on Aug.20. FBCS was established in 1976 as Fujitsu's first manufacturing and sales subsidiary in the United States.

Focusing on the PBX as its main product, over the years the group sold approximately 8,000 systems, primarily to government-sector and academic institutions. However, the company said in recent years that the business's performance had lagged, in part because of its failure to shift itself successfully to an Internet protocol (IP) solutions model. Fujitsu stated that in Japan it would be actively pursuing the growth of PBX business, including the development of an IP-based solutions business in conjunction with its affiliated company Fujitsu I-Network Systems.