Telecommunications
KVH Co, a telecommunications services provider owned by US investment firm Fidelity, will construct a large data centre in the Japanese city of Inzai, in Chiba Prefecture, at an estimated cost of Ñ20 billion-Ñ40 billion ($185.8 million-$371.5 million). KVH intends to tap demand among businesses looking to outsource information technology operations. The company acquired a plot of land from the government-affiliated Urban Renaissance Agency in Chiba New Town, which is home to data centres for many financial institutions. The six-story data centre will cover half the lot, and will be expanded as demand grows. Expected to come on stream in spring 2010, the facility will initially have a floor space of 30,000 square metres.
KDDI R&D Laboratories has developed a system for delivering free viewpoint video over the Internet. The research arm of KDDI plans to use the system for a trial service on its Website this year and within five years hopes to integrate the system with the delivery of on-demand television programming over the Internet. In free viewpoint video, the viewer can choose to watch events play out from any angle. This is accomplished by filming the action from multiple angles using multiple cameras and then synthesizing the image data to generate a digital 3-D view. The new KDDI system uses data-compression technologies and selective processing of image data to create a 300mbps data stream, which is small enough for delivery to household Internet terminals.
KDDI is teaming up with Nippon Express to enter the telegram market in a bid to break the grip held by NTT Corp. KDDI was to start offering a telegram service on July 1, setting up nine delivery centres nationwide, with the goal of grabbing a 20% market share in three years. The telegram market is estimated at about Ñ60 billion ($557 million), down about 40% from the peak in fiscal 1996. But the market size has remained unchanged in recent years due to strong demand for telegram messages of congratulation or condolence on such occasions as wedding parties and funerals. By tapping Nippon Express' existing delivery network, KDDI plans to offer services that are 20% cheaper than NTT's.
Hardware
Matsushita Electric Industrial plans to market ultra-small business-use personal computers globally by the end of the year, starting out with a product for nurses and then offering a ruggedized model for use at factories and construction sites. These PCs are to have screen sizes of 12.1 inches or smaller, with each model having functions targeting at specific fields. The manufacturer behind the Panasonic brand plans to release the medical-use model simultaneously in Japan, the US and Europe. This machine will have a touch panel instead of a keyboard, allowing for nurses in hospitals and those making house calls to input such data as blood pressure and treatments quickly and with one hand.
Sony CorpÆs shares fell the most in more than two months in Tokyo trading after the company's mid-term plan didn't include products to beat the competition. The company plans to invest Ñ1.8 trillion ($16.8 billion), increase the number of businesses that generate at least Ñ1 trillion in annual sales and connect 90% of Sony's electronic products to the internet by March 31, 2011. The company also pledged to generate a 10% return on equity, or profit divided by book value, by the year ending March 2011. That's almost double its 5.8% percent ROE average in the past five years.
Internet
NTT Corp, Sony Corp and others said that they will unify the technical standards for Internet Protocol television (IPTV) services. The standardisation process will be led by a forum established by three major telecommunications services firms: NTT, KDDI Corp and Softbank Corp. The forum has since been joined by a total of 15 businesses and organisations, as well as two individuals. Its members now include Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toshiba Corp, Sharp Corp and Hitachi, as well as the five major commercial TV broadcasters in Tokyo and Japan Broadcasting Corp. The forum is to draw up unified standards by the end of August and urge Japanese IPTV service providers and consumer electronics makers to develop compatible technologies and equipment.
Korea
Telecommunications
South Korea has banned Hanarotelecom from adding new customers to its broadband service for 40 days after the company disclosed customer information to telemarketing firms. Some former and current executives at Hanarotelecom have been questioned by police in relation to the disclosure of data on about 6 million customers to telemarketing firms in 2006 and
2007. The Korea Communications Commission also fined Hanarotelecom W148 million ($143,100) for registering its customers as members of the company's portal service without permission.
SK Telecom has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) on the import and export of television programs. SK Telecom said that TV programs made by SMG will be exported to South Korea through its sales channels, while the company's own media resources will be exported to China via SMG. The two parties also agreed to cooperate on mobile TV, IPTV (internet protocol television) and interactive media technology and SMG's new media unit signed a cooperative agreement with SK Telecom's China unit, Via-SK Network, on wireless value-added services.
SK Telecom said it has secured rights to publish two online games produced by Sega Corp. as part of its plan to expand its business into the gaming industry. The South Korean company said it had recently signed a deal with Sega Publishing Korea, the local unit of the Japanese game maker, to release ôSangokushi Taisen Onlineö and ôLet's Make a Pro Baseball Team Onlineö. SK Telecom is in the process of localising the games and plans to begin services near the end of the year after creating a new game portal to be run by its gaming subsidiary. The company is also in talks with Sega to secure rights for additional games, such as "Splash Golf" and "Let's Make a Pro Football Team Online."
SK Telecom has signed an agreement with China Shanghai Media Group to cooperate on new media services. Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, the two companies plan to partner on services including mobile TV and IPTV. SMG is one of China s major media outfits, with 13 television channels and a host of radio stations. In April, the company received a US$12 million investment from Intel to develop its internet TV service
Hardware
Samsung Electronics will build its second liquid crystal display (LCD) plant in China after it succeeded in producing 82-inch LCD at the Tianjin Display Plant. Samsung is selecting a place for the construction of the project with scheduled investment of US$500 million. The first batch of 82-inch LCD is expected to service airports and bourses. To meet the increasing market demand, Samsung has released a package of 40-inch, 46-inch, 57-inch, 70-inch and 82-inch LCD in succession.
Samsung Electronics accounted for 31% of all television units, including liquid-crystal display (LCD) and cathode-ray tube (CRT) types, sold in the European market in the first quarter of 2008. Samsung's domestic rival LG Electronics ranked second and Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands ranked third, with market shares of 13.4% and 12.7%, respectively, DisplaySearch said, adding that television sales in Europe accounted for 21.5% of all television units sold in the world.
¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
