Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. purchased an 80 percent stake in AutoWeb Communications Inc., a computer software company in the United States, the carrier announced Friday.
With the $11.2 million investment from the stock purchase, NTT will insert three of its staff into the U.S. company's five-member board to represent its share of management.
AutoWeb allows automakers and auto parts makers to securely exchange technological information through its original encryption technology and file-sharing servers, NTT said.
The firm currently has more than 1,000 companies as clients, including major automakers in the U.S. and Japan. NTT plans to expand the customer base to other industries and hopes to promote its business in the field of information distribution worldwide, according to NTT.