At a ribbon-cutting ceremony today in Tokyo, representatives from Seattle's Internap Network Services Corporation, Japan's NTT-ME Corporation and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation congratulated each other on their joint venture: Internap Japan.

Internap Japan CEO Atsushi Yano has already set a goal to begin offering connectivity services as early as this July.

"We believe that Internap Japan's Overlay Network will not only bring a higher of service to Japanese businesses, but also will help alleviate scaling problems created by the proliferation of services such as broadband access and wireless IP connectivity," says Yano.

Internap's move into Japan should offer a lot of potential. According to Merrill Lynch, the market for Internet Service Providers and Managed Data Networks in Japan will grow from US $3.1 billion to US $23.9 billion by 2009.

According to Internap Network Services CEO Tony Naughtin, the joint venture will not just take Internet performance within Japan to a larger playing field.

"Internap Japan, under the leadership of Atsushi Yano, will strive to revolutionize Internet performance for Japanese companies and consumers by offering superior connectivity not only for destinations within Japan, but also beyond its borders," says Naughtin.