Software Futures is a recognised application solution provider in the South African financial services sector, and will act as a distribution and implementation partner for GridServer, DataSynapse's application infrastructure software, which virtualises and distributes application services and executes them in a guaranteed, scalable manner over existing computing resources.

Through this partnership, DataSynapse will continue to provide business for financial services, insurance and telecommunications industries and will also work with the major application vendors, enabling South Africa's enterprises to reduce their IT capital spend and operating costs through the use of grid technology. DataSynapse and Software Futures will work closely to deliver high performance results to business critical applications, while reducing the need to invest in hardware by utilising existing resources.

"South Africa is a key market for DataSynapse and it is important for us to work with a recognised leader with a strong client base," said Willy Ross, DataSynapse managing director of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "Our partnership will enable us to identify new opportunities for GridServer with existing South African clients and as part of Software Futures' application outsourcing specialisation."

Software Futures will offer local country support and a deep understanding of grid technology targeted towards a variety of customer requirements, delivering a high quality solution based on South African service levels.

"By combining Software Futures' proud delivery track record and significant client relationships, along with one of the world's most innovative grid computing companies, we are offering our customers a compelling proposition," said Gerhard Diedericks, partner manager for Software Futures. "Our customers are challenged to find and enable more business value with existing or reduced IT resources. We believe that with the DataSynapse we can help our clients meet that challenge."

With growing market interest in service oriented architectures (SOAs), the combined knowledge and expertise of DataSynapse's SOA experience and Software Futures architecture proficiency, this new relationship could set new precedents as a critical enabler for South African financial services enterprises.

In 2004, DataSynapse achieved rapid growth and opened new offices in Frankfurt and Milan, joining the already established European operations in London and Paris. Through the establishment of strong customer relationships in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, DataSynapse continues to plan significant expansion to its Frankfurt office, which will become a full service operation. Based on a number of key client engagements, DataSynapse also plans to establish operations in Spain and will announce its presence in Tokyo by year-end.