The board of rhipe Limited announced the signing of a binding agreement with Japan Business Systems, Inc. (`JBS') to establish a new Joint-Venture (JV) company (rhipe Japan), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. JBS has Microsoft specialisation capabilities in areas such as Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Modern Workplace (Office365), Business Applications (Microsoft Dynamics 365), and Applications and Infrastructure (Microsoft Azure). rhipe Japan will aim to be appointed as a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner by Microsoft Japan.

Microsoft Japan is aware of the JV plan and believes that rhipe's credentials as Microsoft's leading Indirect CSP partner based in Asia Pacific will place it in a strong position to assist in growing Japan's CSP business, especially in the significantly under-served Small and Medium Sized Business (`SMB') segment of the market. The key terms of the rhipe Japan JV are as follows: rhipe Japan will be owned 80% by rhipe and 20% by JBS; JBS will provide at cost local personnel, office space, localisation, market knowledge and support for the operational launch; and rhipe will be responsible for all other aspects of the JV including the use of rhipe's Platform for Recurring Subscription Management (PRISM), business planning, market launch, and back-office operations.