Ing C Olivetti SpA and SEAT, Societa Elenchi Ufficiali Abbonati al Telefono SpA, both of Italy, have teamed with Microsoft Corp on an equally-owned three-way joint venture in the field of applications programming for optical disk drives for the European market. A new company, Eikon SpA, will be established with headquarters in Rome, to open for business in May 1987. Eikon will design, develop, produce and market optical media software applications and related systems. Mirroring the several similar ventures set up by Philips with partners around the world, the company will offer a single point of contact for information and service in the areas of product design, software, data preparation, premastering and mastering, using technology initially licensed from Microsoft. Eikon will also distribute and supply products developed by Microsoft’s Compact Disk Read-Only Memory division and provide CD ROM consulting services internationally. Each firm gets two seats on the Eikon board.
