NEC was established in 1899 to manufacture and sell telephone equipment in cooperation with Western Electric of the United States, making it Japan’s first joint venture with foreign capital. In 1977, NEC declared its “unification of computers and communications” (C&C), and the expansion of business based on IT and network technologies. In 2008, the “NEC Group Vision 2017” was created as a social and business goal “to become a global leading company that utilizes innovation to realize an information society friendly to humans and the earth.”