Poste Italiane invests EUR400m in digital platform

Italian state-owned postal service provider Poste Italiane has invested some EUR400m (USD495.8m) in technical innovation, the company said on July 10, 2004. Poste Italiane will use the investment for the construction of a new digital terrestrial platform for service integration, for employees training and for introducing e-commerce. In line with its objectives for innovation, Poste Italiane has signed a collaboration agreement with U.S. software developer Microsoft, the company said. According to Poste Italiane’s CEO Massimo Sarmi, after a long discussion with Microsoft president Bill Gates, the companies agreed that Microsoft would help Poste Italiane with the development of the digital platform for service integration. The platform will allow customers to use the services offered by Poste Italiane via Internet or via the digital terrestrial platform, both offering maximum IT security and data protection. The digital platform can also be used for e-learning and distance learning. The platform will start working at full blast in two years, Massimo Sarmi said.