With regard to the news that IBM Japan had been selected to develop software for Olympus products, as reported in the media on November 1 and 2, Olympus has received a number of inquiries from readers who wonder whether software development for all Olympus products will be outsourced to IBM Japan.

The fact is that Olympus Software Technology Corp., an Olympus subsidiary that performs selected software development for companies in the Olympus Group, will receive operational reform assistance for boosting business efficiency for its all software integrated in product development within the existing business scope.

In response to the report that “Olympus will dedicate itself to product planning and hardware development,” Olympus strongly denies any such intention.

Additionally, the Olympus Group has no intention of “allowing IBM Japan to participate in software development from the design stage” or “increasing, in stages, the percentage of designs by IBM,” contrary to some reports.

On the contrary, the Olympus Group is striving to strengthen software development as products in all areas become increasingly digital.