GOVERNMENT & POLICY

Government-sponsored multimedia training
Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is sponsoring a series of training sessions for multimedia content developers in Japan. As an initial step, instructors from New York University (NYU) and the University of Southern California (USC) visited Japan in February to conduct a 10-day workshop. The session, hosted by the Multimedia Content Promotion Association, an external MITI affiliate, covered content creation techniques, legal issues, training methods, and curriculum. MITI's aim is to increase the number of skilled multimedia content developers in Japan.

Cable-TV ownership rules eased
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) has removed restrictions on foreign ownership of cable TV operators. Previously, non-Japanese ownership of any cable TV company was limited to 33%. The lifting of the limit will open the way for the first purchase by an overseas investor of one of Japan's more than 300 city cable broadcasters. The move is in line with agreements on telecommunications deregulation made at the World Trade Organization.

MITI supports EC development
MITI will provide funding for the development of electronic commerce systems in an attempt to raise the standard of the technology behind such systems in Japan. In March, the ministry began assembling lists of companies involved in developing image processing, encryption, verification, and other core technologies. Based on these lists, it will select targets for support. MITI, which set aside JPY5.6 billion in its FY1996 budget, is already promoting 45 related projects.

MPT adopts ISO 9000
The MPT will adopt the ISO 9000 series of quality certification as a means to standardize the quality of cellular and PHS (personal handyphone system) handsets. At present, manufacturers must submit documents verifying the technical standards of their equipment, but the ministry has decided to move to the internationally accepted ISO standard. The large number of phones shipped each year makes it impractical to test each unit; the MPT hopes that use of an international standard will lead to high, uniform levels of quality.

Electronic patent filing
The Japanese Patent Office (JPO) will from FY1998 adopt a system that supports the electronic filing of patent applications. By the end of FY1997, the JPO will develop PC software that enables patent applicants to file from their home or office; it will distribute the program free of charge to individuals or corporations that request it. This initiative is the first move by a Japanese government agency to support electronic fulfillment of bureaucratic procedures, and it is likely to spur similar efforts in other areas of the government.

Wireless decision delayed
The MPT is facing delays in reaching a policy on the introduction of CDMA (code division multiple access) wireless systems in Japan. The original schedule called for the MPT's Telecommunications Council to issue a report by October 1996, which could have led to the commercial adoption of CDMA in 1998, but the ministry has not yet decided which course it will take. Some European manufacturers are reported to be angry about the delay, and even domestic companies are beginning to show their dissatisfaction.

Filtering Internet content
MITI has launched development of software intended to filter out pornographic or violent information transmitted via the Internet. Total development costs are estimated at JPY200 million. Under the proposed Automated Information Selection System, the receiver will be able to set filter criteria that automatically block incoming information deemed unsuitable. The ministry considers the approach to be a compromise between freedom of speech and the ability of users to set individual standards. Testing of the software was to begin in April, with the assistance of the Electronic Network Association.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Fujitsu develops common client-server system
Fujitsu will, by FY1998, develop a common system for managing and supporting the client-server network environment among its group firms. This will enable customer systems monitoring, inquiry response, and other databases to be created with the same software, thus facilitating collaboration throughout the enterprise. Fujitsu plans to offer a service that manages the client-server systems of multinational corporations; the construction of its own shared-management environment will be the basis for the service.

One-stop maintenance from NEC
As part of a comprehensive system maintenance service it intends to offer soon, NEC will take responsibility for maintaining and servicing PC peripherals made by 200 other companies. NEC Product Service will sign maintenance agreements with the owners of corporate systems that include all peripherals, regardless of manufacturer. Actual work will be carried out by the original manufacturers under separate agreements signed with NEC. The company believes this arrangement will give it a market advantage, as both corporate and individual users increasingly favor distributed systems but continue to look for the convenience of single-vendor servicing.

Computerized parking guide
Mitsui & Co., in a tie-up with Tokyo-based parking lot operator Park 24, will set up a service that provides real-time information on available parking spots to subscribers who have navigation systems in their vehicles. As a first step, the two partners are establishing a parking information center that will compile and transmit data via satellite. The time and distance to the nearest available parking space will automatically be displayed on subscribers' car navigation systems. Mitsui is handling development of the necessary software, receiver unit, and display terminal. The companies also plan to offer a cellular telephone-based version of the service.

Enterprise e-mail use is up
A majority of Japanese corporations and government offices with 500 or more employees are now using e-mail. A survey of 2,614 companies and government offices by the Japan Electronic Mail Council in November 1996 found that 58% were using e-mail, up from 44% from a year earlier. Another 26% said they plan to start using e-mail in the near future. The study found, however, that corporate managers and executives are more likely to use e-mail than ordinary employees. More than 60% of the companies using e-mail said that it is limited to a small number of employees.

Digital Harajuku
The business association of Tokyo's hip Harajuku district, in cooperation with Nomura Research Institute, is working on a project to construct a virtual version of Harajuku on the Internet. The Harajuku Digital World project will provide not only information on stores in the area, but also will sponsor a variety of online events, such as contests, to be held in conjunction with actual Harajuku events. With the cooperation of corporate sponsors, the project will also test electronic commerce systems.

TELECOM TOPICS

Internet-based calls
Callback service provider Chiyoda Sangyo of Tokyo plans from June to start offering a low-priced, Internet-based telephone service between Tokyo and Osaka. Users will be able to speak to each other with ordinary telephones, and will not need PCs to use the service. Users will dial into a dedicated call center and input their membership IDs to use the service. A three-minute call will reportedly cost JPY75. IIJ expands global presence
Internet overseas connectivity service provider Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) is stepping up the pace of its business development efforts. The company plans to establish a connectivity service provider business in New York, and will start offering e-mail and a limited set of other Internet-related services in China. Meanwhile, Asia Internet Holding (AIH), IIJ's entity for its Internet-related business development in Asia, will link Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines with dedicated lines - possibly as early as this spring. This is the next step in its effort to create an Asia-wide backbone network. An AIH spokesman says the company will make access possible via cellular telephones and other mobile media in nations such as Vietnam, where conventional telephone infrastructure remains inadequate.

New lines to Okinawa
KDD, DDI, Japan Telecom, and Teleway Japan have started laying a 1,100-km undersea fiber-optic cable that will link Miyazaki with Okinawa by June. The 5G-bps cable, which will cost nearly JPY10 billion to install, will provide the partners with their own transmission path, eliminating their reliance on NTT circuits to provide telephone services to Okinawa. Each partner will contribute installation expenses in proportion to its capacity allocation.

MARKET NEWS

System solution consortiums
In a bid to boost sales of PC-based client-server systems through cooperative marketing efforts, Tokyo-based Compaq has formed an alliance with about a dozen software and other companies, including Microsoft, Intel, Unisys, Mitsui & Co., and Otsuka Shokai. Compaq has also formed an alliance with firms that will cooperate to sell systems that link mainframes with PCs. Together with an existing alliance of Internet-related firms, these new organizations will attempt to drive a "System Solution Consortium" strategy. Compaq believes this strategy will help member firms compete more effectively with NEC, Fujitsu, and other large corporations who have a wider range of resources available under one roof.

NEC to sell SOHO groupware
NEC is releasing a low-priced version of its Star Office groupware package in a bid to develop new customers in the small office/home office (SOHO) market. NEC sold 6,000 server and 490,000 client versions of Star Office between April 1995 and December 1996; now, it wants to develop greater demand among smaller companies, particularly in Japan's non-metropolitan areas. NEC will assemble a dedicated staff to provide technical support to software retailers, and will boost the number of its Star Office dealers to 100 nationwide.

OLAP market expands
Japan's online analytical processing (OLAP) product market is expanding quickly, according to a Nikkei BP survey. The OLAP market is divided into three categories: server products, stand-alone tools, and integrated packages. In the server product segment, Beacon Information Technology and Fujitsu expect to ship a combined total of 420 site packages of Arbor Software SBase in FY1997, while Oracle intends to ship 1,000 copies of Oracle OLAP Server. Stand-alone OLAP tool vendors, such as Ashisuto, are aiming to double their shipments in FY1997. In the integrated product arena, meanwhile, SAS Institute hopes to ship 180 site packages in FY1997.

NTT plans Malaysian R&D site
NTT will construct an R&D center in Malaysia. The move comes in response to a request from the Malaysian government for technological support in its Multimedia Super Corridor project, which involves moving the capital out of Kuala Lumpur. NTT plans to invest JPY1 billion in the R&D facility construction starting in April 1997. This will be NTT's first R&D center in Asia, outside Japan; it is scheduled to become operational in April 1999, initially staffed by 20 to 50 employees.

Oki to expand US sales
Oki Electric will, during FY1997, start supplying transmission equipment to the US market. The company, which currently supplies only cellular transmission equipment to the US, intends to begin offering a wide range of antennas and other products to American carriers for evaluation. It will use the feedback from the venture in future product development efforts. Oki will initially concentrate on five products: a 6M-bps synchronous digital hierarchy transmission unit, switching units, optical amplifiers, MPEG2-compliant compression units, and Internet-based voice transmission equipment. Sales will be handled by Oki Network Technology (ONT), a company newly established in Silicon Valley.

China adopts PHS standard
The Chinese government has decided to adopt the Japanese PHS as a wireless communications standard. China will make available a dedicated PHS spectrum and plans to install PHS WLL (wireless local loop) networks in regions of the country that have been slow to build wire-line systems. Tests have already begun in Tianjin and Guangzhou; these provinces are likely to be the first to operate PHS systems. The move is expected to trigger local production of PHS equipment by Japanese manufacturers.

Japan eyes India for software development
Singapore-based Hitachi Asia, Hitachi's holding company for the greater Asia region, plans to procure software for the Japanese market from India. In addition to PC software, Hitachi Asia will procure measuring equipment software and will use Indian software firms to devise solutions for the Year 2000 calendar problem. Parent Hitachi has strong ties with the Tata Group, India's top software development firm.

The trend by Japanese corporations to make use of India as a software development center is gaining momentum. NEC now procures PC software from sources in India, and Fujitsu does the same through an India-based unit of its UK subsidiary ICL.

IN 50 WORDS OR LESS

Canon is will convert its equity stake in NeXT (acquired by Apple Computer) to cash and transfer its PC business entirely to Canon Sales. Canon intends to withdraw from the PC business (its unprofitable Innova PCs) and focus on digital cameras, printers, and related equipment.

Japan's cellular telephone industry gained 1.26 million new subscribers in December 1996, a single-month growth record. This brought total cellular users to nearly 18.17 million at year-end. PHS subscriptions rose 315,000 in December, to 4.94 million.

In January, New Jersey-based Dialogic began shipping its Internet Phone Telephony Gateway system in Japan. The company is targeting Internet service providers and firms developing intranets.

IBM Japan has developed a technology that conceals information in video images. Although invisible to human viewers, the "tagged" image data is accessible through PC processing and may be used for video information searches or exposing illegal DVD copies.

Justsystem will establish two new subsidiaries in the US to bolster its software development and marketing system there. These will join California-based marketing firm Justsystem and Justsystem Pittsburgh Research Center. Justsystem intends to double its US staff, to 120, within the year.

Mitsubishi Electric has reorganized its systems integration division in an attempt to boost business by focusing on relatively strong areas. The company will use its FT8000 Model800 PC server as the system core.

Tokyo-based I3NET has forged interconnections with Internet Initiative Japan and Tokyo Internet to launch an international Internet-based facsimile transmission service that users can access via ordinary phone lines.

NTT Advanced Technology (NTT-AT) is starting a troubleshooting service for the Open Computer Network (OCN) launched by NTT at the end of 1996. A "rescue crew" will help solve problems experienced by PC and LAN users working with the OCN.

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