The Hon Hai Group, the world's largest contract maker of consumer electronics by revenue, signed an agreement with IBM and two of IBM's business partners -- Enterprise Information Management, Inc. (EIM) and C-Lock Technology -- on the formation of a technology and service alliance in the Asian-Pacific region for the research and development of environmentally friendly and energy-saving products and technologies.

Under the agreement, Hon Hai will be the exclusive agent in the Asian-Pacific region of GreenCert, a solution developed by IEM and a greenhouse gas meter designed and built based on the combination of the C-Lock engine and IBM software.

At the signing ceremony, Hon Hai founder and CEO Terry Gou said environmental protection is a task that must be carried out, regardless of business boom or recession.

"Even the global economic slump could be turned around by people's efforts to improve environmental protection," he contended.

Gou said initially, Hon Hai will invest over US$1 million to establish a company in the Kaohsiung Software Industrial Technology Park, southern Taiwan, which will eventually become a bedrock of the green energy industry in the Asian-Pacific region. It will follow up with incremental investments that will reach US$300-500 million in three to five years, he said.

"One or two locations in southern Taiwan will be selected as sites for 'intelligent cities' and will be made into Asia's 'model towns, ' where green energy will be used so as to cut greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment," Gou said.

The plan is a positive response to President Ma Ying-jeou and Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng's calls for an acceleration in southern Taiwan's development so as to balance the overall development of the country, he added.

Also at the ceremony, Mark Easton, vice president of sales, global e-market and supply chain for IBM, said IBM is pleased to choose Hon Hai as its business partner in the Asian-Pacific region for the green energy initiative, based on a long-term partnership and Hon Hai's advantageous business prospects in Asia.

Easton, who traveled from the United States to Taiwan specifically to sign the agreement, said the GreenCert solution can be used not only by corporations to save energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions, but can also be applied to build intelligent power systems, health passport systems and intelligent towns in the future.

(By Deborah Kuo)