KDD and 15 other firms will jointly set up a company in mid-July to host connection services for Internet access providers, it was announced June 23.

Japan Internet Exchange aims to offer a stable connection environment to foster growth for Japan's Internet business, according to Yoshikazu Ikeda, a KDD official who will become president of the new company. In Japan, a connection service provided by Keio University is the only major service for research institutions and commercial providers. The service is part of the university's WIDE academic project.

Because of the drastic increase in commercial Internet traffic over the past few years, traffic handling by an academic team has some limitations, Ikeda noted. The new firm plans to start services in October and estimates sales of 500 million yen for the business year starting April 1998. Among companies joining the new firm are Fujitsu Ltd., NEC Corp. and AT&T Jens.