In a major expansion of its business, automotive coolant manufacturer INTAC AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS, INC. bought DOW CHEMICAL CO.'s North American OEM (original equipment manufacturer) factory-fill coolant operations. The acquisition includes a license to the chemical giant's production technology for ethylene glycol-based automotive coolants and its customer list as well as transitional technical support. The value of the transaction was not disclosed. Lemont, Illinois-headquartered INTAC, a partnership between CCI CORP. and MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORP., had about 20 percent of the U.S. coolant market before the purchase of Dow's business, with 1997 sales of $28 million. Its customers include CHRYSLER CORP., FORD MOTOR CO. and Japanese-affiliated car and truck makers operating in North America. INTAC itself is the result of a 1990 acquisition. It also makes windshield washer and brake fluids.
A midsized Japanese drug company will help a small Redwood City, California biotechnology company fund the development and the commercialization of a possibly potent treatment for cancer that involves angiogenesis, or cutting off the blood supply to tumors. The partners are TAIHO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. and SUGEN INC. Taiho Pharmaceutical will put up as much as $70.9 million to cover the costs of preclinical and clinical trials of Sugen's SU5416 angiogenesis inhibitor in exchange for marketing rights in Japan. SU5416 prevents the formation of the new blood vessels that tumors need to grow by blocking a receptor known as Flk-1/KDR in the blood vessels' endothelial cells. While experts agree that Sugen's angiogenesis inhibitor and similar products under development by other American biotech companies hold considerable promise as a cancer treatment, they also caution that commercialization is a long way off.
In back-to-back deals, two Japanese companies gave AGOURON PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. exclusive rights in North America, Europe and certain other countries to develop and commercialize treatments potentially effective against the human immunodeficiency virus. SHIONOGI & CO., LTD.'s candidate is a second-generation nonnucleoside reverse transcriptease inhibitor code-named S-1153. Although less powerful than protease inhibitors, the drug could prove effective in combination with other antiretroviral treatments. La Jolla, California-based Agouron will pay Shionogi a $40 million licensing fee, including $10 million up front, and royalties on sales. For its part, JAPAN ENERGY CORP. licensed to Agouron a HIV protease inhibitor known as JE-2147 that possibly could take the place of similar compounds no longer effective against the virus. The developer will receive licensing fees of up to $26 million, starting with a $6 million down payment, and royalties on sales. The American drug company plans to start clinical studies of JE-2147 in 1999.
An antidepression drug codiscovered by MEIJI SEIKA KAISHA, LTD. and a Danish company has been licensed to PHARMACIA & UPJOHN, INC. Code- named ME 3127 by the Japanese company and NS 2710 by its collaborator, the compound works on a brain chemical known as GABA that is involved in anxiety levels. The Kalamazoo, Michigan company has worldwide development and commercialization rights to the treatment outside of Asia and Nordic countries. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Pharmacia & Upjohn will make initial, milestone and royalty payments to Meiji Seika and its partner.
Two transpacific collaborations recently reported progress on their research and development agendas. KISSEI PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. and VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS INC., which are trying to find treatments for inflammatory and neurological diseases, have selected VX-745 as a lead drug development candidate targeting p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, a human enzyme involved in the progression of inflammation. They expect to begin clinical trials of VX-745 next year. Under a late 1997 arrangement, Kissei Pharmaceutical agreed to provide up to $27 million over three years to develop and commercialize orally active p38 MAP inhibitors (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 337, November 1997, pp. 2-3).
At the same time, under a R&D program sponsored by ONO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, p. 2), TREGA BIOSCIENCES, INC. has come up with several lead compounds for the treatment of certain inflammatory diseases mediated by the melanocortin-1 receptor pathway through cytokine regulation. This identification of small molecules acting on melanocortin receptors was accomplished by screening its combinatorial chemistry library. The San Diego, California drug discovery company now will optimize the lead compounds and conduct preclinical testing.
GEN-PROBE INC. — a wholly owned San Diego, California subsidiary of CHUGAI PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. and a leading developer of genetic probe tests designed to detect a wide range of microorganisms — and CHIRON CORP. have teamed up to develop, manufacture and market nucleic acid probe assay systems for screening the blood supply as a complement to existing immunological methods. The partners' initial target is a combination assay for early detection of HIV and hepatitis C in blood samples. Currently in evaluation studies, this product is expected to enter worldwide clinical trials late this year. It draws on Emeryville, California-based Chiron's intellectual property relating to screening blood for HIV and HCV and Gen-Probe's transcription-mediated amplification technology and its TIGRIS system, the first fully automated, high- throughput DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) probe instrument for blood screening and diagnostics. Development of that system is nearing completion.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Pulling the plug on a money-losing diversification, MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORP. is exiting the floppy disk field in the United States and elsewhere. That decision means the end of production for Charlotte, North Carolina-based VERBATIM CORP. Once the world's biggest producer of floppy disks, the company has seen its business falter since 1995 along with sliding demand for 3.5-inch storage media. Verbatim's losses total an estimated $150 million, including some $40 million in red ink posted in FY 1997 and a projected $20 million loss in the current fiscal year. Roughly 200 employees at the firm's floppy disk plant in Chesapeake, Virginia are directly affected by the shutdown. Mitsubishi Chemical acquired Verbatim in 1990 at a cost of approximately $285 million, although it built the Virginia plant on its own. The subsidiary will be restructured into a sales company for Mitsubishi Chemical-made compact discs and other storage media. KAO CORP. also recently stopped U.S. production of floppy disks (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 344, May 1998, p. 3).
KANEMATSU CORP.'s Somerset, New Jersey office is selling the high- speed, high-performance ViviCO Print Server developed by NIPPON TECHNO LAB, INC. with FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.'s Pictrography 4000 digital color printer. Designed for Windows NT servers, ViviCO provides two types of PostScript Level-2 RIP (raster image processing) and direct-image printing as well as scanning, faxing and electronic mail capabilities, all managed via a Java-based Web browser. To speed up output, it can simultaneously RIP while spooling and RIP while printing. Kanematsu has priced the package at just under $8,000. It expects to sell 4,000 ViviCO- equipped Pictrography 4000 printers in the initial year of marketing.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
The top Japanese maker of uninterruptible power supplies is moving into the American power supply market. SANKEN ELECTRIC CO., LTD.'s wholly owned ALLEGRO MICROSYSTEMS, INC. subsidiary is handling sales, marketing and customer support through a recently opened power supply division in Durham, North Carolina. Sanken Electric's line of standard switch-mode power supplies, which ensure stable DC power in office and factory automation equipment, runs from 25 watts to 150 watts, while custom products are available in ratings from 10 watts to 900 watts. This spring, Sanken Electric tied up with EXIDE ELECTRONICS GROUP, INC. to codevelop UPS products for desktop computers for worldwide sale (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 344, May 1998, p. 13).
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
In the latest demonstration of its belief in the future of wind-produced electricity in the United States, trader NICHIMEN CORP. and its Dutch partner in this business have bought two more wind-generated power plants in California. The purchase from FLOW WIND CORP. of Tehachapi, California was made with support from the investment arm of FLORIDA POWER CORP. One of the plants is located in Tehachapi; it has a generating capacity of 60,000 kilowatt. The other, a 30,000-kilowatt facility, is in Altamont. The partners will renovate the Tehachapi plant by early 1999 and then do the same for the Altamont generating station. Including these costs, the investment by the three partners is estimated at $92.2 million. The two plants have a 17-year contract to supply electricity to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON CO. Earlier this year, the joint venture owned by Nichimen and the Dutch company bought one of the largest power plants in this country driven by wind (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, p. 4).
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
With NIKKO SECURITIES CO., LTD. set to transfer most of its international operations to SALOMON SMITH BARNEY INC. as part of a broad affiliation with TRAVELERS GROUP INC. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 346, July 1998, p. 15), Japan's number-three brokerage house ended its long- standing relationship with the rival investment banking firm of BLACKSTONE GROUP. Nikko Securities tied up with Blackstone in October 1987 to gain expertise in mergers and acquisitions as well as to mediate M&A deals between Japanese and foreign firms. The arrangement included a $100 million limited partnership interest in the New York City company. That money has been redeemed.
In a restructuring move designed to reduce its debt, Japan's top credit- card issuer, NIPPON SHINPAN CO., LTD., will end international operations. Its New York City subsidiary has stopped trying to develop new business as a prelude to being liquidated sometime over the next three years. Another U.S. subsidiary, Dana Point, California-based MONARCH BAY RESORT INC., has sold its real estate holdings, including golf courses, to CAPITAL PACIFIC HOLDINGS, INC. of Newport Beach, California for $120 million. It, too, is expected to be shut down.
The credit crunch in Japan is leading some companies there to try new ways of raising funds. A prime example is SHOWA LEASING CO., LTD. It is issuing asset-backed securities in the United States, hoping to raise the yen equivalent of $355 million at rates lower than what it would have to pay to borrow from a bank at home. Aimed at institutional investors, the five-year, dollar-denominated bonds are secured by roughly 15,000 of the company's domestic lease contracts.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
The Department of Agriculture has given AJINOMOTO CO., INC.'s U.S. subsidiary the go-ahead to market an enzyme, transglutaminase, that has the unique ability to make soft food textures firmer by cross-linking proteins. Given that property, Activa TG can increase firmness, elasticity and moisture retention in meat products without the use of salt or binders. USDA approved Activa TG, which is produced through fermentation, for use in meat and poultry products. Other possible applications are surimi, such dairy products as yogurt and cheese, and noodle products. Ajinomoto expects Activa TG to develop into a $70 million annual business in the United States after five or six years. It has been used in food products in Japan since 1993, producing yearly sales of roughly $21.2 million.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Competition, particularly from national chains specializing in sales of personal computers, proved to be too much for ADO ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. The PC retailer had planned to open 10 T-Zone stores in California, carving out a niche by catering to buyers who wanted machines running applications in languages other than English. However, it managed to open just two stores before calling it quits (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 340, January 1998, p. 5). The San Mateo, California outlet has been closed. The first one, located in Sunnyvale, will be used to customize PCs to corporate buyers' specifications. The pullback forced Ado Electronic's subsidiary to let go 80 of its 110 employees.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
For $35.5 million, NISSHO IWAI CORP. acquired a 25 percent interest in STRATEGIC MINERALS CORP., one of the world's largest vanadium producers. In conjunction with their new relationship, the trader will assume responsibility for the distribution of Stratcor vanadium products to customers outside North America. A primary use for vanadium is to harden steel alloys. Headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut, Strategic Minerals operates a vanadium mine in South Africa and runs plants in Hot Springs, Arkansas and Niagara Falls, New York that recover the metal from petroleum-based waste materials and other feedstocks. It produces ferrovanadium, Nitrovan vanadium and specialty vanadium alloys as well as vanadium chemicals used by the steel, titanium and chemicals industries.
PureGold, a very high-purity microalloyed gold developed and
manufactured by THREE-O CO., LTD. of Kanagawa prefecture, is
available to jewelry designers through a sales representative in El
Sobrante, California that has the same name as the product. PureGold
meets the hallmarking requirements for 24K gold, yet it has the
hardness and the
durability associated with 18K gold. It also is said to be easy to
process and to maintain the fine finish characteristic of 24K gold
products. Three- O is projecting sales of 2,100 pounds of PureGold in
the United States in the first year of marketing for revenues of $9.9
million.
By 2000, HITACHI METALS, LTD. plans to spend a total of $70.9 million in the United States and Japan to expand output of rare-earth magnets. The company's 25-year-old permanent magnet production subsidiary, Edmore, Michigan-based HITACHI MAGNETICS CORP., will increase rare-earth magnet capacity to 30 tons a year. The expansion not only is keyed to the rising demand for rare-earth magnets in such diverse applications as hard disk drives and automotive steering mechanisms but designed as well to put Hitachi Metals on a more equal footing with the Japanese leader in the permanent magnet business, SUMITOMO SPECIAL METALS CO., LTD.
RYOBI LTD. has earmarked $109.9 million to boost output of die castings used in the automotive industry at its plants in the United States and in England. RYOBI DIE CASTING (USA), INC. of Shelbyville, Indiana will expand its factory floor space by nearly half and add 20 large die-casting machines to the 16 it currently has by 2000 in order to meet strong demand from FORD MOTOR CO. in particular but also from GENERAL MOTORS CORP. for die-cast aluminum transmission housings. With the expansion, the U.S. company anticipates 2000 sales of $163.1 million versus revenues of $99.3 million in 1997.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Eleven years after TOSHIBA MACHINE CO., LTD. was forced to end sales of its mainstay machine tools and other products in the United States for shipping prohibited machine tools to the then Soviet Union, the company is ready to resume robot sales here. Its near-term goal is to put together a distribution network in the Midwest, signing marketing and maintenance agreements with 10 companies by October. With that infrastructure in place, Toshiba Machine hopes to be selling 100 small robots a year within two years.
Competitor NACHI-FUJIKOSHI CORP. has opened an advanced technology center for robotics in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The R&D facility is an integral part of the diversified manufacturer's goal of boosting sales in the United States in the wake of weak Asian demand for its products (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 343, April 1998, p. 5). Nachi-Fujikoshi makes bearings in Greenwood, Indiana and machine tools at its NATIONAL BROACH & MACHINE CO. subsidiary in Macomb, Michigan.
To backstop its U.S. machine tool marketing efforts, MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.'s primary American operation and its onshore production unit have established a manufacturing technology center in Wixom, Michigan. Located there to serve the automotive industry, the center showcases MHI's gear-cutting and grinding machines. The company makes computer numerically controlled lathes and machining centers in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
With demand for machine tools sagging at home, a number of other builders also are strengthening their American operations in an attempt to capitalize on the stronger U.S. market. For instance, two years after its last expansion, OKUMA CORP. is in the process of boosting the combined output of CNC lathes and machining centers at its Charlotte, North Carolina plant. The new capacity will be 170 units a month, or 30 percent more than the company currently can turn out. For its part, YAMAZAKI MAZAK CORP., which has made CNC lathes and machining centers in Florence, Kentucky for the last 20 years, will establish two more regional counterparts of its Kentucky-based national technical center. Located in Atlanta and Houston, the new operations not only will handle sales in their territories but will have the capability to work closely with customers in developing engineering solutions. MAZAK CORP. already has four regional technical centers across the United States.
Also hoping to offset slumping demand at home, a FURUKAWA CO., LTD. subsidiary has an October launch date for a large vehicular crane designed specifically for the American market. TOMEN CORP.'s Norcross, Georgia office and five distributors will handle sales of FURUKAWA UNIC CORP.'s 14.3-ton crane. Until now, that company has sold only 5.5-ton and 8.8-ton truck-based cranes in the United States. Gunning for 10 percent of the market in this product class, Furukawa Unic hopes to sell 50 or so 14.3- ton cranes in 1999 and 200 the next year.
Industrial sewing machine manufacturer JUKI CORP. is branching out in the United States. Within this year, its Wayne, New Jersey subsidiary will introduce mailing systems that automatically classify and stuff envelopes — products that now are sold almost entirely to financial institutions and government organizations in Japan. Juki plans to use its existing U.S. sales and marketing network to handle the new product.
By switching distributors, SEIKOW CHEMICAL ENGINEERING & MACHINERY, LTD. hopes to reverse the drop in U.S. sales of its Texel lined magnetic drive pumps. Its new representative is MAGNATEX PUMPS, INC. The Houston pump specialist is projecting annual sales of $2.1 million within three years. Put on the American market in 1994, the Hyogo prefecture manufacturer's products soon achieved yearly sales of $2.8 million but then fell by half. Magnatex works with more than 20 distributors around the country.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORP.'s blueprint for getting its North American production operations back on a money-making track also reportedly includes changes at its WESTERN LITHO PLATE & SUPPLY CO., INC. A maker of lithographic plates, platemaking chemicals and platemaking machines acquired in 1987, the company has been in the red for the last several years because of stiff price competition in the U.S. market. To lower manufacturing costs, Mitsubishi Chemical apparently plans to consolidate production now done at Western Litho's St. Louis plant with the output of a facility in Jacksonville, Texas. Japan's biggest chemical manufacturer has two other American projects in the works that it believes will become profit centers in the medium term. One is a $100 million synthetic paper plant that it built with OJI-YUKA SYNTHETIC PAPER CO., LTD. Located in Chesapeake, Virginia, the factory will be operational in October. It will be able to turn out 11,000 tons of moisture-resistant paper per year. The other is a $25 million facility in Mansfield, Texas that later this year will begin to produce ultrapure chemicals for the semiconductor industry.
Expanding an existing relationship, FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. signed a five-year contract with PRESSTEK, INC. for the Hudson, New Hampshire company to make for worldwide sale under the Fuji Film trade name its PEARLsetter direct-to-plate system and consumables. PEARL is a proprietary nonphotographic, toxic-free, digital imaging and printing plate technology for the printing and graphic arts industries. A thermal laser diode system, it can image various types of Presstek printing plates either off the press or on the press to produce high-quality, full-color lithographic printed materials. Fuji Film will begin distribution later this year.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Medical equipment manufacturer FUKUDA DENSHI CO., LTD. has forged a strategic relationship with ENDOSONICS CORP., a developer and marketer of intravascular ultrasound and coronary functional assessment products for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and peripheral vascular disease. Over a two-year period, the Tokyo company will invest $13 million in its Rancho Cordova, California partner. Close to two-thirds of this money will be used to buy EndoSonics stock. The rest will fund R&D and technical assistance work for products intended for the Japanese market. Fukuda Denshi will distribute these products. Presumably, they will include intravascular ultrasound-guided stents, the result of EndoSonics' recent acquisition of a company that develops stents as well as angioplasty balloons and other medical products.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Recognizing the advantages that silicon carbide semiconductors offer for high-voltage, high-power switching devices, KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC. is prepared to spend up to $3 million over the next 32 months to help CREE RESEARCH, INC. develop SiC power devices with a blocking voltage in excess of 5 kilovolts for use in power transmission systems. The Durham, North Carolina company is the world's leading manufacturer of SiC-based semiconductors. SiC devices are expected to yield substantial power savings because of reduced losses due to their efficiency. They also should ease the complexity of power transmission switching systems. SiC has the ability to withstand high temperatures and power levels, which means that substantially fewer devices are required in a system.
In a technology-sharing arrangement that some analysts found surprising, SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD. will have access to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP.'s 0.18-micron semiconductor process technology as well as its core library for system-on-a-chip integration and other technologies, including the PowerPC. That access is part of a wide- ranging agreement between the two to design, produce and market custom integrated circuits for consumer electronics products like digital televisions, digital cameras and digital video discs. The deal, however, is not one-sided. It gives IBM the opportunity to expand its custom chip business into the ready-for-takeoff consumer digital device market. The arrangement also expands IBM's role as a chip supplier in Japan since the company will provide foundry services for Sanyo Electric. The partners will work together in 10 product areas, with marketing of the resulting ASIC (application-specific IC) and custom logic chips occurring over the next two years.
FUJITSU COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR, INC., the San Jose, California marketing unit of FUJI-TSU QUANTUM DEVICES, LTD., has ambitious near- term sales goals for the North American market, particularly for gallium arsenide devices used in the data communications and telecommunications industries. The company is aiming for yearly sales of $212.8 million, or about one-third of its parent's projected worldwide total. To support this expansion, Fujitsu Compound plans to double the number of engineers on staff to 100 within the next year. That will give the company greater depth to work with U.S. communications firms to design products that take full advantage of the very low power consumption and the very high switching speeds of semiconductors fabricated from GaAs materials. Fujitsu Compound also markets HEMTs (high-electronic mobility transistors) for satellite and mobile communications, laser diodes, photodetective diodes and monolithic microwave ICs.
In a unique relationship, general contractor FUJITA CORP. has teamed with SYMETRIX CORP., the developer of the Y-1 fabrication process for ferroelectric random access memories, to supply Ferro-Fab turnkey FeRAM back-end fabrication facilities. The Colorado Springs, Colorado company claims that the Ferro-Fab technology optimizes the cost advantages of the FeRAM process compared with simply converting existing wafer fabrication plants to FeRAM production. The partners are building the first Ferro-Fab facility at Symetrix's campus. The highly automated plant will be capable of producing parts with 0.35-micron to 0.25-micron processing techniques. Capacity will be adequate for Symetrix's initial product lineup, including embedded microcontrollers for contactless IC cards, stand-alone memories and ferroelectric ASICs. The Y-1 process has been licensed to MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. and NEC CORP.
New to CANON INC.'s U.S. wafer stepper line is the FPA-5000ES2 scanning stepper. It is described as the industry's first 248-nanometer, deep- ultraviolet, step-and-scan system capable of achieving 0.18-micron line processing on either 200-millimeter (8-inch) or 300-mm (12-inch) wafers. Canon expects a primary selling point of the new scanner to be its field-upgradability to 300-mm wafers. Deliveries of the FPA-5000ES2 will start in October.
In the latest reorganization of its U.S. operations, KOKUSAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD. has merged North Billerica, Massachusetts-based KOKUSAI BTI CORP., a manufacturer of horizontal diffusion furnaces, into KOKUSAI SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT CORP. That San Jose, California company was formed in the spring of 1997 to handle marketing and service.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
One of the hottest names in on-line investment services has received a strong endorsement. SOFTBANK CORP. will invest $400 million in ETRADE GROUP, INC., acquiring a 27.2 percent interest in the Palo Alto, California Internet company. The two businesses are no strangers. Japan's biggest software distributor provided early financing for ETRADE before it went public in 1996. The two also recently formed a joint venture in Japan to introduce Internet investing to that market (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 346, July 1998, p. 20). ETRADE plans to use part of the new capital to finance acquisitions that complement the company's growth objectives. Some of the money will go into advertising, while other funds will be devoted to accelerating infrastructure development. Analysts suggested that a major attraction of the deal for ETRADE was the opportunity to forge closer ties with Internet-related firms affiliated with acquisition-inclined Softbank. Those include Internet search engine company YAHOO! CORP. (31 percent owned by Softbank), on-line "communities" hoster GEOCITIES CORP. (35 percent) and computer magazine publisher ZIFF-DAVIS INC. (71 percent), the company behind the ZDNet Web site.
SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, INC. and REALNETWORKS, INC., the leader in transmitting sound and video over the Internet, will create a free Internet video music network for Sony recording artists. At the heart of the project will be the Seattle firm's Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language. As its name indicates, this standards-based streaming technology allows Web authors to create synchronized multimedia presentations using a wide range of elements, including voice, music, visual effects, text and graphics. For Sony Music, the forthcoming network offers a way to harness the distribution power of the Internet while lessening the incentive for bootlegging.
Japan's consumer electronics giants appear to be moving toward a consensus that the Windows CE operating system will be the engine of future digital products. First SONY CORP. and now HITACHI, LTD. and MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. have strengthened their relationships with MICROSOFT CORP. to facilitate the convergence of PCs and consumer electronics products (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 344, May 1998, p. 7). The Hitachi-Microsoft alliance has three development objectives. One is Windows CE-based mobile PCs running off of the Japanese company's 32-bit SuperH RISC (reduced instruction-set computing) processor, which already is customized for handheld Windows CE devices. The second joint effort involves a home multimedia station that can manipulate, integrate, store and play digital data from a variety of sources, including television, satellite broadcasts, the Internet, digital cameras and DVDs. In addition, the partners want to bring real-time capabilities to Windows CE. To backstop these efforts, Hitachi will set up an organization dedicated to building new Windows CE-based products. Microsoft will provide broad support to this group.
The joint development efforts planned by MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. and MICROSOFT CORP. are equally varied. They will work on the next generation of PC technology for receiving, decoding, processing and displaying digital TV broadcast signals and associated interactive programs as well as on digital cable TV advanced set-top boxes for public network and retail customers. Another goal is to port Windows CE to selected versions of MEI's AM33 microprocessor family for forthcoming consumer electronics products. In addition, the Japanese company will launch sales of analog terminals for Microsoft subsidiary WEBTV NETWORKS INC.'s Internet access via TV system. To simplify their work in the future, MEI has the option of licensing Windows CE for forthcoming consumer electronics products and PC devices.
CSK VENTURE CAPITAL CO., LTD. has invested in QUADRANT INTERNATIONAL, a Malvern, Pennsylvania provider of software and hardware DVD solutions that address the convergence of PC and consumer electronics technologies. The company's products are designed around an object-oriented modular software architecture that is said to deliver a consistent look and feel across technology platforms. Quadrant will use CSK's money to expand its R&D efforts. The company is working on digital television, high-definition television and satellite broadcast standards- based solutions.
Helping enterprise customers to build and deploy next-generation enterprise network applications on top of legacy computing environments is the objective of an alliance between HITACHI, LTD.'s Santa Clara, California computer products subsidiary and NETDYNAMICS, INC. The Hitachi unit will combine the Menlo Park, California firm's NetDynamics 4 platform with its own legacy application interface, Data Object Manager, its CORBA-based Object Request Broker and its TPBroker object transaction monitor (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, p. 7). In the process, Hitachi will create a platform adapter component to NetDynamics 4 for its DOM and certify TPBroker as interoperable with NetDynamics 4. It also will sell the combined products in North America.
One of the leading suppliers of three-dimensional graphics software for game development and interactive entertainment, NICHIMEN GRAPHICS CORP., has given the Alias|Wavefront subsidiary of SILICON GRAPHICS, INC. the right to distribute its Game Exchange 2.0 to the interactive and game market everywhere outside Japan. GE2 will be marketed with Maya, Alias|Wavefront's flagship 3D software product. The Nichimen Graphics product is an advanced software development tool for programmers working with 3D interactive content. It supports all major 3D file formats and game engines. GE2 for Maya is expected to ship this fall and will be priced in the United States at $4,000.
Hollywood's wealth of experience in computer-generated special effects was instrumental in TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.'s decision to open a computer graphics production center at its nearby Santa Monica, California subsidiary. With this operation as its base, the big printing company hopes to build computer graphics work into a $70.9 million worldwide business in 2000.
With an eye on future diversification, textile manufacturer TEIJIN LTD. plans to open a software development office in San Jose, California. Within two years, the company expects to transfer 10 people from its Yokohama software research center to the new facility. Other employees will be hired locally. A primary focus of the new operation will be application software related to the health-care industry.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
In an unusual, perhaps unprecedented move by a Japanese company producing in the United States, MI-TSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP. plans to outsource U.S. production of cellular telephones to big contract manufacturer SOLECTRON CORP. The five-year deal, designed to trim MELCO's production costs, is expected to close by yearend. Milpitas, California-based Solectron will take over MITSUBISHI CONSUMER ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC.'s Braselton, Georgia wireless telephone manufacturing operations as well as some 350 assembly line workers and support personnel. It will make cellular telephones for sale in North America under both the MELCO name and private-label brands. The Japanese company expects to sell 500,000 mobile phones in the United States in FY 1998. To support the partnership with Solectron, particularly in the area of digital mobile phones, recently formed MITSUBISHI WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. of Duluth, Georgia will establish a new design center at a still-undecided location in the United States.
In a major endorsement of SONY CORP.'s software technology, number-two U.S. cable TV operator TELE-COMMUNICATIONS, INC. will use the Windows CE-based Home Networking Module platform in its advanced digital set- top boxes. The middleware allows digital devices equipped with Sony's i.LINK interface to send and receive digital commands and digital audio/video streams. TCI's National Digital Television Center also will license Sony's Aperios operating system as a backup for its set-top boxes. Analysts said that the deal could be doubly significant for Sony since TCI is set to merge with AT&T CORP., raising the possibility that the Home Networking Module could be adopted as well by the communications giant for its next-generation home networking system. Sony's software is at the heart of an interactive digital in-house networked system that it developed with the leader in set-top boxes, GENERAL INSTRUMENT CORP. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 345, June 1998, p. 7).
As soon as 2000, when the Federal Communications Commission will allow consumers to buy their own set-top boxes rather than just rent them from CATV providers, MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. will start to sell digital set-top boxes in the United States. Able to receive today's analog TV signals as well as forthcoming digital broadcasts and to be two-way interactive-capable, the MEI devices will use the Windows CE operating system.
KOKUSAI DENSHIN DENWA CO., LTD. sold its 9.5 percent stake in international communications carrier PACIFIC GATEWAY EXCHANGE INC. for roughly $72 million. KDD paid $20 million or so for its stake in the Burlingame, California company in a June 1996 deal designed to help it gain management and marketing expertise. Now that KDD AMERICA, INC. has launched domestic and international service (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 345, June 1998, p. 7), its parent felt that the time had come to sell its PGE holdings and to invest part of the proceeds in its new U.S. operations. But KDD will continue to connect its lines with Pacific Gateway's network for international calls and other services.
Trying to get on an equal footing with major competitors at home, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP.'s American subsidiary has applied to the FCC for permission to begin facilities-based communications services between the United States and Japan. NTT AMERICA, INC. currently is restricted to leased-line or resale transpacific services, although it can provide any type of service from here to third countries. INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS INC., JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. and KOKUSAI DENSHIN DENWA CO., LTD. already have FCC permission to build their own networks for services across the Pacific (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 346, July 1998, p. 7).
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
In a bid to consolidate distribution of its manmade suede fabric in the Americas, TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC. paid $15 million to acquire the Ultrasuede marketing business of SPRINGS INDUSTRIES, INC. Since 1971, the big Fort Mill, South Carolina manufacturer of sheets and towels has sold Toray Industries' synthetic suede Ecsaine under the Ultrasuede brand name. It handles well over half of the 1.6 million square yards of Ecsaine sold in the Americas annually; the rest is shipped directly from Japan or from a Toray Industries subsidiary in Italy. Having taken over the Ultrasuede trademark, the Japanese textile maker formed TORAY ULTRASUEDE (AMERICA), INC. in New York City to oversee marketing of its product. Most of the people working for Springs Industries in the Ultrasuede business moved over to the new company.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
The Prius hybrid-powered sedan will arrive at TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. dealerships in North America in the fall of 2000. The Corolla-sized car incorporates a 1.5-liter gasoline engine and an electric motor powered by a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. The Prius operates on electricity at low speeds and switches automatically to the gasoline engine at about 30 miles per hour. The battery pack is recharged by routing power from the gasoline engine to an on-board electric generator; thus, unlike electric vehicles, it never needs to be plugged in. Between now and the North American launch of Prius, which went on sale in Japan last December, Toyota engineers will be working to modify the vehicle, focusing in particular on its exhaust emissions and its fuel economy. Prius was designed at Toyota's Torrance, California design studio.
Early in 1999, production will start at HONDA LOCK MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.'s second U.S. plant. The $14 million Bremen, Georgia facility will make zinc die-cast lock bodies and starter switch bodies for supply to HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.'s three North American assembly operations. Sales at the new HONDA ALL-LOCK MANUFACTURING, INC. plant are projected at $2.2 million in the first year of business and $18 million in 2003. The original Honda All-Lock factory in Selma, Alabama began production in 1988.
A decade after U-SHIN LTD. set up equally owned ORTECH CO. with ORSCHELN INTERNATIONAL CO. to make door latches, switches and other automotive parts, the MAZDA MOTOR CORP.-affiliated manufacturer of electrical parts has bought out its partner for an undisclosed price. The Kirksville, Missouri company counts as its customers Japanese transplant operations as well as GENERAL MOTORS CORP.
Positioning itself to meet the supply requirements of Japanese automotive makers operating in the United States and in Europe while minimizing its investment exposure, NIPPON PISTON RING CO., LTD. has teamed with DANA CORP. on cylinder liners. The new partners will develop, manufacture and market this part, which separates pistons from the engine block and largely controls exhaust emissions and, by extension, affects engine durability. They will use as their production base the Toledo, Ohio automotive parts manufacturer's plants on both sides of the Atlantic.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
NIPPON VALQUA INDUSTRIES, LTD., Japan's largest manufacturer of industrial packings and an up-and-comer in the area of fluoroplastic products for high technology industries, has formed a wholly owned marketing subsidiary in Larchmont, New York. VALQUA AMERICA, INC. also oversees the company's U.S. manufacturing operation, a joint venture with FLUOROWARE, INC. of Chaska, Minnesota that makes tanks for storing the acids used in etching semiconductor circuits (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 336, September 1997, p. 9). The new subsidiary reportedly is studying the feasibility of setting up another American business to produce fluoroplastic products for the semiconductor industry. A decision will be made by next year.
Its latest acquisition has elevated ZOTOS INTERNATIONAL, INC. of Darien, Connecticut to the ranks of the five biggest U.S. companies in the professional hair-care products business. The SHISEIDO CO., LTD. subsidiary bought the professional salon products division of Mill Valley, California-based LAMAUR CORP. for about $11 million. The division had net sales in 1997 of $17.4 million. The deal includes the group's sales rights, trademarks, patents, inventories and other assets for such brands as Apple Pectin, Vita-E, Nucleic-A and Pativa. Using its existing infrastructure, Zotos has assumed responsibility for production, distribution, sales and marketing of these salon products. In November 1996, Zotos bought the sales rights, patents and inventories of HELENE CURTIS INC.'s professional salon division.
TSUMURA & CO. hopes to grow in part by expanding its virtually nonexistent exports to the United States. The Tokyo company is Japan's biggest producer of Kampo (Chinese medicines). It also makes toiletries. Tsumura has opened offices in New York and Los Angeles to handle marketing. The products will be sold under Tsumura's brand names. The manufacturer still is trying to sell its Secaucus, New Jersey TSUMURA INTERNATIONAL INC. subsidiary, which manufactures bath products, fragrances and toiletries in Shakopee, Minnesota (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, pp. 9-10).
Going where it believes the money is in the U.S. security services market, SECOM CO., LTD. sold the residential security services part of its WESTEC SECURITY, INC. subsidiary to a competitor so that the Newport Beach, California-headquartered company could concentrate on the more profitable commercial services part of the business. Westec provided home security services in California and 15 other states. It had roughly 100,000 customers as of last March. The sale price was in the $300 million range. Secom controls 60 percent or so of Japan's security services market.
This fall, DENTSU INC. will gain the distinction of being a part owner of a Major League Soccer team as well as the world's largest advertising agency. It will buy a 50 percent interest in California's San Jose Clash professional soccer team. The move is tied to the 2002 World Cup finals, which Japan and South Korea will cohost. Dentsu is an official marketing partner for those events.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
The blockbuster impotence drug Viagra could be officially launched in Japan during the first half of 1999. Manufacturer PFIZER INC. said that the Ministry of Health and Welfare promised an accelerated review of its late July marketing application. If approved, Viagra would be covered by the national health insurance system. Pfizer is moving faster than some analysts expected to get Viagra on the market, in part because of the big black market that has sprung up in Japan for the little blue pill.
ALLERGAN, INC. has given SANTEN PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. exclusive rights to distribute brimonidine — eye drops for the treatment of glaucoma that the Irvine, California company markets internationally under the brand name of Alphagan. Brimonidine is a selective alpha2 agonist that lowers intraocular pressure. Santen Pharmaceutical, Japan's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic drugs, is responsible for obtaining MHW marketing approval for brimonidine as well as for future product development. Allergan will manufacture brimonidine for sale in Japan. Its distributor will pay a percentage of revenues from sales of the product as well as a royalty for use of the Alphagan trade name. The American company retains the right to copromote or comarket brimonidine.
Pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials in Japan will have access next year to a new patient recruiting tool when QUINTILES TRANSNATIONAL CORP. introduces its Medical Activity Communication program. Through videotaped and written information, it helps firms enlist people in their clinical studies by informing them of such issues as the nature of the therapy being tested and the participating clinical sites. Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Quintiles provides contract pharmaceutical services related to drug development and sales and marketing.
Weekly rather than monthly market intelligence now is available to IMS HEALTH's client pharmaceutical houses in Japan. The Westport, Connecticut firm's subsidiary has lined up virtually all of the country's pharmaceutical wholesalers to report daily sales data to it at the close of business each day. Averaging more than 1.9 million records every day, this information is coded and processed overnight at IMS Health's in-house computer facility. It then is compiled into weekly market data and released to clients each Wednesday for the previous week.
RO-59, INC. named TAF INTERNATIONAL CORP. to sell its bonded lubricant coating. The Stoughton, Massachusetts maker's product combines the durability advantages of bonding with the lubrication properties of Teflon in an easy-to-use, water-based formula. Designed for wherever friction is a problem, RO-59 deposits a thin, dry, firmly bonded Teflon lubricant coating to most metals as well as some ceramics and plastics. The Tokyo distributor, which is in the computer trading business, is targeting RO-59 marketing at manufacturers of keyboards. It has projected first-year sales at $709,200.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
The first automated system for handling the payment of bills by one business to another at bank branches is in operation in Japan. Built by NCR CORP. for SUMITOMO BANK, LTD., the $10.6-million image processing system has been installed at the nationwide commercial bank's processing centers in Tokyo and Osaka. It is expected to save the financial institution more than $709,200 a year, or 20 percent, compared with heretofore manual processing of the anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 bills for payment issued by corporate Japan that move through Sumitomo Bank each day. The NCR system also will reduce inputting errors while better safeguarding company financial information.
COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP. has joined the select circle of foreign companies providing PCs to NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP. for resale by its affiliates. The world's leading manufacturer of PCs is supplying the Presario 2254-15, which is equipped with a digital switching unit for connection with NTT's ISDN (integrated services digital network) system. The machine, which costs around $2,200, carries both the Southern Cross PC 3301 and the Presario 2254-15 logos. Insider status does not mean big sales, though, since just 1,000 Compaq systems are expected to be sold. To date, NTT group companies have handled PCs made by INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. and DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. for corporate customers and IBM home-use computers.
With the subsidiaries of COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP. and DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. set to merge October 1, executives of the two organizations have accelerated the planning underway since Compaq acquired DEC in June. One decision already finalized is that, beginning next January, Compaq will start assembling all of the products it sells in Japan except Presario home PCs at DEC's suburban Tokyo plant. Built in 1991, the Tama facility recently was renovated (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 343, April 1998, p. 8). Like DEC, Compaq will operate on a build-to-order basis. At roughly the same time, Compaq will close its distribution facility in Atsugi, Kanagawa prefecture. The two subsidiaries plan to pare their combined work force by 500 people to roughly 3,000 employees by the merger date and to initiate other efficiency-enhancing moves. The new company, which will retain the Compaq name, will have annual sales in excess of $1.4 billion. That will rank it second only to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. among foreign computer manufacturers operating in Japan.
Continuing to search for ways to make money in Japan's slumping PC market, IBM JAPAN LTD. has added a twist to the direct-sales policy it recently inaugurated for Aptiva home computers with a number of volume retailers (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 346, July 1998, p. 11). It now is building Aptivas to order for big electronics retailers with which it deals directly as well as for wholesalers that supply products to regional as well as to smaller retailers. The orders can be as small as a few hundred systems. IBM Japan's new marketing philosophy is that it will ship to dealers the products they want, when they want them and in the volume they specify. This flexibility is designed to prevent the buildup of excess inventory that could be returned to the company. By the end of July, the computer maker expected to be dealing directly with 15 retailers compared with five previously in an effort to ship 60 percent of the 270,000 or so Aptivas its sells annually through direct marketing channels.
IBM JAPAN LTD. has made two other strategic moves to boost revenues in Japan's recessionary climate. In partnership with New York City-based management consultant KURT SALMON ASSOCIATES, INC., it is marketing computer systems designed to help department stores and other retail chains better manage their businesses. The thrust of the MakoroMP system is to get retail executives to focus on profits rather than sales volume, the reflexive reaction of Japanese corporate managers when times are tough. The system also will help planners decide the products to be stocked, the timing of sales and the extent of price cuts. The new partners also will offer consulting services to customers.
Meanwhile, IBM JAPAN LTD. is adding sales and customer-support professionals to the in-house group responsible for marketing hardware, software and services to financial institutions. Banks and other financial services providers are investing heavily in information systems to support the new services they have introduced or plan to launch as a result of the Big Bang liberalization of the financial sector. To capitalize on this sales opportunity, IBM Japan expects to have a financial industry- focused department of 1,700 people by the end of September, up from 1,500. The transferees will assist in the development of information systems for such purposes as computer telephony integration and Internet banking.
The subsidiary of direct marketer DELL COMPUTER CORP. is offering corporate buyers of its PCs the option of leasing. The new sales arrangement is the result of a tie-up with ORIX CORP. Dell will write up the deals, while Japan's biggest leasing company will handle the actual transactions. Leasing for as little as two to three years is expected to appeal to companies worried about being stuck with old technology.
Users of UNISYS CORP.'s high-end 2200 Series systems can move up to the fully compatible ClearPath HMP (heterogeneous multiprocessing) IX5800 Series of servers, protecting their investments in software and peripherals while gaining more power and new, advanced features. Offering nonstop-class levels of operation, the IX5800 servers are suited for reservation systems, on-line transaction processing and other large- scale corporate operations. The company's subsidiary is leasing the machines for $123,400 a month. The Unisys unit also is offering customers a new line of small to midrange systems, the ClearPath HMP IX5600. An integrated, prepackaged suite of software, hardware, documentation and support services, these servers lease for $17,700 a month. Over the next two years, a total of 400 IX5800 and IX5600 servers are expected to be installed.
In a simultaneous addition to its ClearPath HMP family of enterprise- class servers, UNISYS CORP.'s affiliate released multiple models of the large-scale NX5800 Enterprise Server and the medium to large-scale NX5600 Super Server. The two lines of general-purpose servers integrate the traditional Master Control Program/Advanced Server operating system with the Windows NT environment, which yields HMP. Both the NX5800, which leases for $42,600 and up a month, and the NX5600, which starts at $10,600, include single-processor, single domain servers and multiprocesor, dual-domain models. Shipments of this pair also are projected at 400 units over two years.
What UNISYS CORP. considers the cornerstone of its announcement of a new generation of ClearPath HMP servers is the low to midrange LX5000. It runs the MCP/AS operating system, applications and data bases on Windows NT-based, industry-standard Pentium II or Xeon SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) hardware. Pricing of the LX5000 is aggressive, beginning at a monthly lease charge of $3,300. Believing that it has the right combination of performance and price, the Blue Bell, Pennsylvania manufacturer's subsidiary is predicting sales of 600 LX5000 over two years.
Like its parent, NCR CORP.'s subsidiary is offering buyers of certain Pentium-based servers the choice of running SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.'s Solaris operating system rather than the in-house version of Unix. This option is available with WorldMark 4300 SMP systems, which are one- to eight-processor, midrange departmental servers, as well as with the entry-level S20 and S26XLPII servers. A top-of-the-line WorldMark 4300 working in the Solaris operating environment costs around $36,800.
In a worldwide release, SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. broadened its industry- leading line of workgroup servers running the Solaris operating system with the introduction of a dual-processor model. The peripheral component interconnect-based Sun Enterprise 250 server can be equipped with one or two 300-megahertz UltraSPARC-II 64-bit RISC processors with up to 2 megabytes of cache each, as much as 2 gigabytes of memory, more than 100 gigabytes of internal storage and over 1 terabyte of external storage capacity. The affordability of enterprise-class features and functions in a dual-processor configuration is expected to be a major selling point of the Sun Enterprise 250. Sun's subsidiary has priced the entry-level model at $16,700 and the high-end one at $43,900.
Both IBM JAPAN LTD. and DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP.'s subsidiary continue to buttress their lines of products that combine the performance of Windows NT 4.0 workstations with the ease of use of PCs. New from IBM Japan is the IntelliStation E Pro series, which is available with either a 350-MHz Pentium II processor or a 400-MHz Pentium II engine. Both systems, which come standard with 64 MB of internal memory and 6.4 GB of fixed storage, are aggressively priced, listing for $3,300 and $3,700, respectively. DEC's latest pair of entries are powered by a 400-MHz Pentium II processor and come with the 440BX chipset. The DIGITAL Personal Workstation 400i Series, priced from $4,600, supports a complete range of three-dimensional graphics, including the new DIGITAL PowerStorm 4D51T-GFX graphics accelerator. For its part, the DIGITAL Creation Studio 400i has software bundled with it for graphics, illustration, video, speech and the Internet. The starting price of $5,000 includes a monitor.
The prolonged slump in both the corporate and the home PC markets basically has frozen product introductions, but it has not stopped companies from announcing new PC servers. Come September, for instance, COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP.'s subsidiary will ship the ProLiant 6000 and the ProLiant 7000 servers, the company's first products with production-quality 400-MHz Pentium II Xeon processors. In the meantime, it has added two products for workgroups and remote-office applications: the $4,300 ProLiant 800 server, which runs off a 350-MHz Pentium II, and the ProLiant 1600 server, which uses a 350-MHz or a 400-MHz version of the processor and costs $4,800 or $5,700, respectively. Both of the new ProLiants can handle two processors.
A PC server with similar specifications is on the market from MICRON ELECTRONICS, INC.'s local unit. The basic configuration of the NetFRAME 3100, which costs $4,600, has a 333-MHz Pentium II processor, the 440BX chipset, 64 MB of random access memory and a 4-GB hard drive. It, too, is dual processor-capable.
GATEWAY 2000, INC.'s subsidiary is taking a different approach. For SOHO (small office/home office) customers interested in networking their PCs, it has launched the Small Office Solution program. The first package includes a 266-MHz Pentium II-equipped NS-7000 entry-level server bundled with MICROSOFT CORP.'s BackOffice Small Business Server 4.0 operating system and five PCs. The $12,000 cost includes installation.
One of the few manufacturers willing to shoulder the expense of launching a new PC model in today's uncertain market environment is DELL COMPUTER CORP. Its target, however, is the value or sub-$1,000 segment — a price point made possible by the use of a 300-MHz Celeron processor in the desktop OptiPlex E1300L.
Its brave-the-waters counterpart in the market for notebook computers is COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP. Affordability also is the sales strategy. The company tweaked its Armada line of portables by adding a new entry-level model, the 1592DT. Powered by a 233-MHz Pentium processor with MMX technology, it is priced at $2,500.
Meeting the continuous data access requirements of large networks quickly and efficiently is becoming increasing tough, but AUSPEX SYSTEMS, INC. believes it has the answer in the NetServer 7000/800 network file system. At its heart is the Santa Clara, California company's Functional Multiprocessing architecture, which distributes the NFS workload to multiple, dedicated processors individually optimized for network, file, storage and Unix system functions. Compared with traditional servers, Auspex says, this architecture delivers higher data availability, faster access to shared data and reduced administrative costs through data consolidation. FUJI XEROX CO., LTD. and NISSHO ELECTRONICS CORP. are handling sales (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 335, August 1997, p. 9).
The already crowded market for automated tape libraries has a new competitor, PHILIPS LASER MAGNETIC STORAGE INC. The Colorado Springs, Colorado manufacturer tapped MEMOREX TELEX JAPAN LTD. to distribute its BlackJack 21 system, which manages backup, restore and archival storage for most Unix platforms, networks and mainframes. The small-footprint product houses up to 21 tape cartridges in three removable magazines, plus an additional cartridge for cleaning or data. It supports digital linear tape, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP.-compatible 36-track and Philips LMS's new backward-compatible NCTP drive technologies. With a DLT 7000 drive, BlackJack 21 has 735 GB of capacity, while a NCTP drive gives it 440 GB of capacity. Memorex Telex priced the product (including drive) at $37,600 and the library itself at $28,400. It expects sales to total around $7.1 million this year.
Responding to the demand for faster access to data and higher data throughput generated by the increasing performance requirements of PC server applications, COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP.'s subsidiary is offering a new family of SCSI (small computer system interface) enterprise-class hard disk drives that rotate 10,000 times per minute. The company's second-generation of 10,000-rpm Wide-Ultra SCSI-3 products delivers significantly faster performance than the typical 7,200-rpm drive. Moreover, they contain a 3-inch disk, which needs less energy to spin. Drive capacities of 4.3 GB, 9.1 GB and 18.2 GB are available at prices of $3,300 and up.
Through a recently opened office in Tokyo, MYLEX CORP., the world's leading RAID (redundant array of independent disks) controller vendor, introduced a pair of new products. The Fremont, California company's eXtremeRAID 1100 controller is said to eliminate input/output bottlenecks in midrange and enterprise-class storage systems, thereby unleashing their full performance capabilities. Key to this feat is the controller's integration of a 233-MHz RISC processor with Mylex's enhanced intelligent firmware. The other product is the AcceleRAID 200 family of RAID adapters for servers and workstations. They add full hardware RAID fault tolerance at low prices to motherboards from INTEL CORP. that feature on-board SCSI. Both products are being sold on an OEM basis.
The complete solution to Web caching. That is NETWORK APPLIANCE, INC.'s bold claim for its NetCache appliance. The product helps carriers, Internet service providers and corporations boost Web access speeds now slowed by the huge volume of traffic while reducing their consequently soaring data transmission costs. NetCache appliances are said to provide up to 10 times the number of simultaneous connections possible with standard proxy servers and to maintain response times under 10 milliseconds even with peak loads. The Santa Clara, California manufacturer's distributor, ITOCHU TECHNO-SCIENCE CORP., has priced a NetCache appliance with 64 GB of capacity at $66,000, while a 113-GB version goes for $184,400.
IBM JAPAN LTD. has a mid-October shipment date for the InfoPrint 3000 printer just introduced worldwide by its parent. Designed for small to midsized production printing operations, the two models in the line produce documents at speeds of up to 112 impressions per minute or 224 ipm in one-up mode. Among other features, the InfoPrint 3000 automatically enhances 240-dot-per-inch and 300-dpi legacy applications and outputs them as 480-dpi or 600-dpi documents. Customers have a choice of 480-dpi or 600-dpi output support or, as an option, an operator- switchable 480/600-dpi feature. IBM Japan has priced the entry-level InfoPrint 3000 Model ES at $246,800 and the faster, more flexible InfoPrint 3000 Model ED at $558,200.
The industry's lowest-priced PostScript 3-capable laser printer is on the market from IBM JAPAN LTD. The InfoPrint 20, which turns out 20 pages per minute in networked environments, lists for $1,800.
CALCOMP TECHNOLOGY, INC. expects the versatility and the productivity of its ScanPlus III black-and-white scanners to appeal to organizations storing large volumes of documents via scanning. The various models making up the line can handle documents of any width up to 36 inches and any length and can adjust the resolution to match the level of detail. The ScanPlus III also is fast because of its one-pass scanning capability. For instance, an E/A0 size drawing can be captured in as little as 15 seconds. Among the ScanPlus III models available from the Anaheim, California company's subsidiary is the 800T, which offers selectable resolution levels up to 800 dpi. It is priced at $16,300.
Production of the world's thinnest (under 0.2 inch) color TFT (thin-film- transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display) module for notebook PCs has started at DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES INC.'s plant in Nosu, Shiga prefecture. Developed by IBM JAPAN LTD., which owns DTI in equal partnership with TOSHIBA CORP., the ITSV53G features a 12.1-inch (diagonal) screen with a resolution of 800x600 pixels. It also is the lightest TFT LCD engineered by IBM Japan. Output initially is running at 20,000 units a month, but the ITSV53G is expected to increasingly displace other displays at the 100,000-unit-per-month factory. Whatever the volume, it will be split evenly between the two owners, as is production of other products made at DTI's original plant in Himeji, Hyogo prefecture and at the IBM Japan complex in Shiga prefecture.
Shipments have started in Japan of IOMEGA CORP.'s Buz multimedia producer for PCs. Designed for professionals and home users alike, the product combines video capture and compression, an output card, an Ultra SCSI controller and a software suite. The Roy, Utah maker describes Buz as one of the easiest ways to get video and audio from camcorders, videocassette recorders, DVD-ROMs and laser discs into a PC and then to turn out professional-quality productions.
MICROSOFT CORP.'s subsidiary is selling for $55 a version of the IntelliMouse for Windows 98. The USB (universal serial bus) input device puts the ability to scroll and zoom at the user's fingertips.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Eleven years after moving into the Japanese market, the world-renown landscape architecture, master planning and urban design firm of SWA GROUP has built an enviable record, having worked on more than 40 private and public projects. The Sausalito, California company's latest contract, awarded by NOMURA REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD., involves a site plan and landscaping for the Inage New Town. This Chiba prefecture development consists of 1,016 apartment units in six buildings located on six acres. Local SWA affiliate LANDSCAPE INTERNATIONAL, LTD. expects to complete the $3.5 million project this fall.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
One of the biggest U.S. manufacturers of lighting fixtures for industrial, commercial/institutional and outdoor/roadway applications is mounting a major Japan marketing push. HOLOPHANE CORP. already has appointed LILIPUT CO., LTD. of Nishinomiya, Hyogo prefecture to import its sign lighting. However, the Columbus, Ohio-headquartered company intends to market its entire product line, capitalizing on the demand for energy- efficient products like its. Therefore, the compay is searching for importers and distributors to service other specialized markets. Holophane's Osaka office reportedly plans to bid on the lighting contracts for such nearby big public and commercial projects as the expansion of the Kansai International Airport and the Universal Studios Japan theme park. It also hopes to parlay its success in supplying the lighting for several Japanese-affiliated automotive plants in North America.
RAYCHEM CORP.'s subsidiary added six RGE Series fuses ranging from 4 amperes to 40 amperes to its line of Polyswitch resettable devices. The new products are priced between 43 cents and 57 cents in bags of 500. The Menlo Park, California company forecasts annual Japan sales of 20 million units for the complete Polyswitch family of resettable fuses.
Four more Japanese companies have been licensed to make wafer-thin, flat-panel loudspeakers for PC, multimedia and audio markets worldwide using technology developed by NOISE CANCELLATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC. The new licensees are: DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD., FUJICOLOR SERVICE CO., LTD., KAWASAKI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD. and XEBEC CO., LTD. They join such manufacturers as NIPPON COLUMBIA CO., LTD., the supplier of the Denon brand. The contracts actually were handled by an affiliate of England's VERITY GROUP, PLC, with which Stamford, Connecticut-based NCTI signed a cross-licensing agreement for its flat speaker technology in the spring of 1997.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Few American financial services providers have been more aggressive than GE CAPITAL SERVICES CORP. in taking advantage of the market openings created by either deregulation or business problems (see Japan- U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, p. 15). In the space of a week, the world's largest nonbank financial firm signed a deal that will give it a major position in the Japanese consumer finance field and moved to acquire an interest in a local aircraft and equipment leasing company. First, GE Capital Services agreed to buy the consumer finance business of LAKE CO., LTD. The Osaka-headquartered company is Japan's fifth-largest consumer finance provider, with more than 1.4 million customers, 564 offices across the country and nearly $3.8 billion in loan receivables. In November, a yet-to-be-formed GECS subsidiary will take over the Lake name, trademark and consumer finance business infrastructure as well as the 2,700 or so Lake employees involved in this part of the company's business. At that time, the nonconsumer loan business of Lake will begin operating under a new name. Financial terms were not disclosed, but GE Capital Services reportedly will lend Lake money both directly and indirectly to repay its $5.7 billion in bank loans. The American company moved into Japan's consumer financial services market in mid-1994. Its last acquisition in this area was the December 1997 purchase of a midsized consumer finance firm (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 340, January 1998, p. 14).
Days after GE CAPITAL SERVICES CORP. finalized the Lake transaction, corporate executives confirmed that the company was in talks with MITSUBISHI CORP. about possible equity participation in affiliated RYOSHIN LEASING CORP. The trader owns 51.8 percent of the equipment leasing company. MITSUBISHI TRUST & BANKING CORP. is the other big investor, with a 34.5 percent share. Japanese news sources suggested that Ryoshin could be converted into a joint venture majority-owned by GECS. The U.S. firm already is in the Japanese automotive leasing business thanks to a fall 1996 acquisition, but some kind of tie-up with Ryoshin would enable GE Capital Services to broaden its reach to the big aircraft and machinery leasing market.
By the end of July, MERRILL LYNCH JAPAN SECURITIES CO., LTD. planned to have open 29 of the 33 locations making up its new nationwide network of brokerage offices. In addition to offering typical brokerage services to individual investors, the branches initially are selling 24 investment trusts (mutual fund-like products), about half of which invest mainly in Japanese securities. The news earlier this year that MERRILL LYNCH & CO., INC. would launch a retail brokerage business in Japan using employees and offices of failed YAMAICHI SECURITIES CO., LTD. as its vehicle (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, pp. 14-15) provided the first clues to the new Japan market strategies of U.S. financial services competitors.
CITIBANK N.A. also plans to expand its Japanese retail business but through internal growth. Within the next year, the big commercial bank will open 11 more branches, increasing its network to 30 offices. Among the new locations are Sapporo, Sendai, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, plus several additional offices in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Most of Citibank's 19 current branches are in the greater Tokyo and Osaka areas. The company apparently decided that the problems engulfing its domestic competitors make the near term the opportune time to expand. The pending December end of the ban on direct sales of investment trusts by banks also is said to have influenced its decision.
Banks' forthcoming freedom to market investment trusts on their own also was behind the agreement in principle by PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO. OF AMERICA and MITSUI TRUST AND BANKING CO., LTD. to form an equally owned investment trust management company. To be headquartered in Tokyo, PRUDENTIAL-MITSUI TRUST INVESTMENTS CO., LTD. initially will sell a range of investment trusts through the Japanese bank's network of 57 branches. Later, the partners expect to tap other distribution channels. At first, no doubt, many of the joint venture's investment options will be products developed by Prudential, which manages $89 billion in mutual fund assets. In time, however, Prudential-Mitsui Trust Investments plans to design its own investment trusts. Whatever the source of the prospective company's offerings, they will be packaged with financial planning advice and investment education — something that has been in short supply for the typical Japanese investor.
Like other local banks, BANK OF YOKOHAMA, LTD. is preparing for the coming end of the prohibition on over-the-counter sales of investment trusts by teaming up with a number of American specialists. Its partners reportedly include FIDELITY INVESTMENTS JAPAN LTD., MERRILL LYNCH ASSET MANAGE-MENT JAPAN CO., LTD. and MORGAN STANLEY ASSET & INVESTMENT TRUST MANAGEMENT CO., LTD. Japan's largest regional bank is looking to these companies not only for investment trust products but also for help in training personnel in the business. Between 40 and 50 of Bank of Yokohama's branches are expected to offer the new investment option.
The wide-ranging but largely undefined relationship established in the spring of 1997 between BANKERS TRUST CORP. and then-reeling NIPPON CREDIT BANK, LTD. continues to take shape (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 338, November 1997, p. 14). By yearend, the two reportedly will launch foreign exchange settlement services, particularly for Japanese corporate customers doing business overseas. NCB needs the New York City bank's help in this area because it is in the process of shutting down international operations. That pullback is upsetting foreign currency transactions within Japanese multinationals that the number-three trust bank counts as customers. In Japan, NCB will help Bankers Trust customers buy and sell dollars, yen and other currencies.
VISA INTERNATIONAL INC. has launched an 18-month trial of smart-card payment technology in Tokyo's Shibuya shopping and entertainment area in cooperation with more than 2,000 merchants, 10 Visa credit-card issuers, a like number of banks and 25 technology suppliers. The world's top credit-card company expects 100,000 Visa smart cards to be issued during the program. Participants have the choice of a disposable Visa Cash card, a reloadable Visa Cash card or a multifunction card, which combines a standard credit card and a reloadable Visa Cash card. The Shibuya program will build on the results of a six-month test of Visa chip-based smart cards initiated last October in Kobe.
Automatic teller machines that operate around the clock could be coming to neighborhood convenience stores and gas stations as soon as next spring as a result of an initiative announced by IBM JAPAN LTD. Four convenience store operators and one service station chain have expressed interest in the idea of an ATM network, as have a number of banks and other financial institutions. If the project gets off the ground, it could be a big money-maker for IBM Japan, which would supply the ATMs, the software to run the network and maintenance services.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
A shakeout is underway in Japan's pet food industry in the wake of higher yen prices for imported ingredients and sagging retail prices in the main distribution channel. RALSTON PURINA CO., the manufacturer of a number of popular brands, already has pulled out of the market. AJINOMOTO GENERAL FOODS INC. is not far behind. The maker of Gaines dry food will sell its plant and goodwill to UNI-CHARM CORP.
A key part of HERSHEY FOODS CORP.'s strategy to boost its local business 15 percent this year to $21.3 million is to roughly double sales of white chocolate to $2.8 million. The company is repackaging and repricing its white chocolate, still a fairly new market in Japan, in the hope of achieving its target.
Having terminated its marketing contract with SUNTORY LTD., Japan's biggest wine importer, in May, ROBERT MONDAVI CORP. named MERCIAN CORP. as its exclusive distributor. The Tokyo-based manufacturer of alcoholic beverages and the number-two buyer of foreign wines will begin handling about 30 of the Napa, California winery's products in September. Typical prices will be around $100 for a bottle of Opus One, $25 to $35 for Robert Mondavi brands and $9 for Woodbridge wines. Mercian has projected combined first-year sales of 100,000 cases.
BUDWEISER JAPAN CO., LTD. has introduced a canned sparkling drink priced around $1.30 per 16-ounce can. It expects to sell 200,000 cases of the new product.
A fast-expanding Pacific Northwest franchiser of submarine sandwich shops has moved into the Japanese market. SEAWEST SUB SHOPS, INC., a wholly owned subsidiary of JRECK SUBS GROUP, INC., opened a Sub Shop in Osaka, the first of what is expected to be a number of outlets. The store is run by TREX INC., which worked with Bellevue, Washington-based Seawest on the shop's design as well as on lining up local sources of ingredients and fresh-baked bread.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Liz Claiborne and Dana Buchman shops will be opened by a partnership between LIZ CLAIBORNE INC. and JUSCO CO., LTD. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 341, February 1998, p. 25). The big New York City manufacturer of women's career clothing and sportswear will own 19 percent of the joint venture and will be responsible for store design, product selection, marketing and product positioning. Supermarket operator Jusco, which already operates Talbots and Laura Ashley stores in Japan and works with a number of other name foreign retailers, will own 81 percent of the new company and handle day-to-day operations of the Liz Claiborne and Dana Buchman stores. These will be both freestanding stores and shops inside department stores. The first store could be open by mid-1999. In time, Liz Claiborne expects to have as many as 100 outlets in Japan.
The first international store to be established by outdoor retailer RECREATIONAL EQUIPMENT, INC. will be located in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Seattle-based REI currently is scouting locations. The store will have sections for camping, climbing and bicycling equipment. It also will stock a full line of clothing and accessories for outdoor activities. The earliest the store would open is late 1999. REI currently serves the market through mail-order sales. It has some 80,000 customers in Japan, including 28,000 or so who purchased something in 1997.
WILLIAMS-SONOMA, INC., the San Francisco retailer of upscale cookware and related products, is in the process of closing all 15 of its in-store shops in Japan. The company formed a joint venture with TOKYU DEPARTMENT STORE CO., LTD. in 1988. The contract under which the 19 percent/81 percent partnership operated retail locations expired in July. Williams-Sonoma apparently decided that business in Japan did not warrant an extension of the arrangement. The joint venture's sales in FY 1997 were $14.9 million.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
The leader in base metal thermocouple alloys has moved into the Japanese market. HOSKINS MANUFACTURING CO., which produces a complete line of nickel-chromium, iron-chrome-aluminum and copper-nickel electrical resistance and resistor alloys, gave NIPPON THERMOELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO., LTD. exclusive rights to distribute its products for two years. The Tokyo company's three agents are expected to focus their marketing efforts on the Hamburg, Michigan company's spark plug electrode alloys, although they also will handle Hoskins' other special-purpose alloys as well as its electrical resistance and resistor alloys.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
FOSTER WHEELER CORP.'s subsidiary has won a contract from SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD. to design and supply a 149-megawatt circulating fluidized-bed steam generator. The Clinton, New Jersey company is the world leader in this technology. The steam generator will be installed at a power-generating plant that SHI is building for NIHON CEMENT CO., LTD. in Niigata prefecture. The clean-burning CFB, which will be the largest in Japan, will burn a variety of solid fuels, including bituminous coal, anthracite coal and petroleum coke. Expected to start commercial operations in mid-2001, the power plant will supply electricity to TOHOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC. Working with electric utilities, independent power producers and industrial users, Foster Wheeler's subsidiary has supplied 45 percent of Japan's CFB generating capacity.
Just weeks after TOSHIBA CORP. agreed to be a risk- and revenue-sharing partner on GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.'s new combined-cycle H System power plant (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 346, July 1998, p. 6), the longtime collaborators set up a joint venture to make steam turbine airfoils in Yokohama and a separate company to produce the same product in Monterrey, Mexico. Toshiba owns 51 percent of TOSHIBA GE TURBINE COMPONENTS CO., LTD., while GE has a 66 percent interest in the Mexican operation. Production at both plants is scheduled to begin next spring. TGTC will specialize in long-length airfoils, while its counterpart will turn out medium and short versions. Airfoils are critical to the performance and the reliability of steam turbines.
Tightening regulations around the world governing environmentally harmful emissions from construction equipment have set the near-term agenda for the company that CUMMINS ENGINE CO., INC. and KOMATSU LTD. formed late last year to develop engines for the international construction equipment market (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 340, January 1998, p. 15). The equally owned venture in Oyama, Tochigi prefecture reportedly hopes to design an engine that cuts in half emissions of carbon dioxide and other sources of greenhouse gases and that also is quieter than today's engines. They expect to spend $14.2 million on this project. Production of the engine is scheduled to start in 2000 at KOMATSU CUMMINS ENGINE CORP., another partnership located in Oyama that now makes diesel engines for both companies.
OTIS ELEVATOR CO.'s subsidiary is taking orders for an unmanned people- mover system powered by linear motors. The Linear Otis Shuttle System, developed in-house, consists of cars suspended on an air cushion. The system has a range of six miles and a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour. Designed for airports, hospitals and similarly spread-out facilities, the shuttle will be built at the company's Shibayama, Chiba prefecture factory. Otis is part of UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Now that a regulatory change allows contractors in Japan to use American-specification nails, at least two U.S. manufacturers of cordless framing nailers have found a new market for their products. SENCO PRODUCTS, INC. is particularly excited by the change. Its subsidiary in Osaka has struggled since being formed in 1993 because of Japan's nonconforming nail standards. The Cincinnati, Ohio company is marketing the FramePro SN650 power nailer. Its exclusive distributor is well- connected RYOBI LTD. The maker of power tools and Senco's subsidiary have formed a project team to sell the $1,200 nailer to major home builders. They are projecting sales of 2,000 units in the first year. ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS, INC. is even more optimistic about sales prospects, forecasting revenues of $31.9 million for its Impulse IM350-CTQ power nailer over four years. The $1,100 product is sold by JAPAN POWER FASTENING CO., LTD., an Osaka prefecture maker of screws that has long- standing ties to ITW.
The TapTone division of Falmouth, Massachusetts-based BENTHOS, INC. has introduced the RAY-TRAK on-line inspection system for checking fill levels in bottles, cans and jars through ACURAKS, INC., its Tokyo distributor for 10 years. The $26,200 system, which inspects up to 2,000 containers per minute, uses X-ray technology to determine precise fill height by measuring the absorption of radiation passing through the container contents. Underfill rejection is standard; an overfill detector is optional.
The explosive growth in Japan forecast for micromachines or microelectromechanical systems — devices or systems combining electrical and mechanical components and measuring from micrometers to millimeters — should be aided by the availability of low-cost prototyping services at MCNC's MEMS Technology Applications Center. For about $4,300, the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina company, a world- recognized leader in transitioning MEMS technology to commercial utilization, will make a 1-centimeter x 1-cm prototype in about two months. It also can help companies with process and device development and manufacturing. MCNC has enlisted MARUBENI SOLUTIONS CORP. to act as its agent. That Tokyo company expects to win orders for 200 prototypes in the first year of the tie-up.
The world leader in equipment for rapid product development, 3D SYSTEMS CORP., wants to double its Japan sales to $21.3 million by 2000. To facilitate achievement of this goal, the Valencia, California company will put on the market this fall customized resin materials for its prototyping machines. This equipment, distributed by INCS INC. of Kanagawa prefecture and HITACHI ZOSEN INFORMATION SYSTEMS CORP., converts computer-aided design files into solid, 3D models.
L&R MANUFACTURING CO., a maker of industrial ultrasonic cleaning systems, is selling its tabletop QS-200 system through ALT CORP. This product incorporates the Kearney, New Jersey company's SweepZone Technology, which ensures consistent, uniform cleaning. The Tokyo distributor has priced the ultrasonic cleaner at $1,000-plus. It expects to sell 300 units in the initial year of marketing.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
EASTMAN KODAK CO. continues to work with minilab pioneer NORITSU KOKI CO., LTD. to develop state-of-the-art photographic processing equipment utilizing its SM chemical process. The Kodak technology eliminates manual mixing of film and paper process chemicals. Instead, concentrated SM chemicals are packaged in containers with patented nozzles that plug directly into equipment tanks and release the proper amount of chemicals needed at any given time. The SM process also has the advantages of delivering the first print faster and cutting effluent volumes, disposal costs and energy expenses. The latest results of the Kodak-Noritsu collaboration are the minilab maker's QSS-2511SM, an improved version of today's QSS-2301SM universal system, and the QSS-2611SM, a replacement for the compact QSS-2211SM. Both products will ship in early November.
Sharp, clear photographs can be printed in just 15 seconds from a PC using POLAROID CORP.'s new ColorShot digital photo printer. Lightweight and portable, ColorShot attaches directly to the USB port on any Windows 95 or Windows 98 PC. Polaroid's subsidiary has priced the unit at $265. A 10- print film pack costs $12.75.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
The Tokyo subsidiary of BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP., a world leader in products for minimally invasive surgical treatment, has opened a technology and training center in Satohara, Miyazaki prefecture. The 20 people now on staff will work on new and advanced technologies and procedures tailored to the Japanese market. Pilot manufacturing lines at the Miyazaki Techno Research Park facility will allow the company to test production of the resulting products. The center also will be used for intensive training of medical personnel in the use of the Natick, Massachusetts company's coronary catheters and other products.
Meanwhile, sales of BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP.'s Discovery intravascular ultrasound catheter have started. Used to image the diseased portions of coronary arteries, the device provides visual information to the physician about the extent and the morphology of the plague that is not generally obtainable with coronary angiography. For instance, it reveals whether the plaque is hard or soft. That additional knowledge helps the doctor chose the best therapy. The one-time-use Discovery catheter costs about $1,600.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare also approved for marketing CARDIODYNAMICS INTERNATIONAL CORP.'s BioZ System (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 344, May 1998, p. 16). Like the San Diego, California company's other products, it uses thoracic electrical bioimpedance technology to obtain data on cardiac output. It is an alternative to invasive pulmonary artery catheterization procedures. Tokyo-based B.C.S. SYSTEMS, INC. is distributing the BioZ System.
A Burlington, North Carolina company that manufactures the only integrated, automated sample preparation and image analysis system to support cytotechnologists and pathologists in cervical cancer screening has branched out but still is relying on MEDICAL & BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES CO., LTD. to distribute its products. AUTOCYTE, INC. has given the Nagoya company worldwide marketing rights to ImageTiter, a system that allows the quantitative assessment of antinuclear antibodies in a patient's blood sample. This measurement is essential in the evaluation of such autoimmune disorders as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. The 10-year arrangement requires MBL to make an initial payment of $1 million. AutoCyte also awarded MBL exclusive distribution rights in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to the AutoCyte Pathology Workstation, a line of computer-assisted image analysis tools that provide quantitative measurement of cellular materials. That information enables pathologists to make more reliable diagnoses. The U.S. company's mainstay products are the integrated PREP and SCREEN systems for early detection of cervical cancer.
UROMED CORP. of Needham, Massachusetts signed a JOHNSON & JOHNSON subsidiary as the exclusive distributor of its INTROL Bladder Neck Support Prosthesis, a treatment for female urinary incontinence. The three-year deal requires the J&J company to make annual minimum purchases.
Marketing of EXACTECH, INC.'s knee replacement product will kick off in late September now that MHW has cleared for sale the Gainesville, Florida company's Optetrak system. Tokyo-based TOKIBO CO., LTD. is the exclusive distributor of Exactech's orthopedic implant products, which also include the AuRA hip replacement system.
Late this year, wearers of contact lenses in Japan, the world's second- largest market for this product, will have a new option. WESLEY JESSEN VISIONCARE, INC. has received MHW's go-ahead to market its FreshLook clear disposable lenses there. The Des Plaines, Illinois manufacturer of specialty soft contact lenses now is seeking marketing approval for its FreshLook Colors lenses, which it hopes to launch during 1999.
Aptly named TALKING SIGNS, INC. has licensed MITSUBISHI PRECISION CO., LTD. to make and market its line of remote infrared signs that enable vision-impaired people to navigate public places and transit systems. A demonstration Talking Signs system already has been installed at the Rapport Center in Yokohama. Other obvious places for Talking Signs transmitters are mass transit systems and their stops, crosswalks and public buildings. As part of the deal, Mitsubishi Precision took an undisclosed equity interest in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana company.
Safeguarding corporate computer networks should be more effective with COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP.'s fingerprint identification system. A camera takes a picture of an authorized user's fingerprint, which, via software, is transformed into an image stored for reference. A small reader attached to any Windows-based PC verifies the person's identity when he or she logs onto the network. Compaq's subsidiary had a late August ship date for the English-language version of the system, which includes the fingerprint identification reader and software. A localized system should be available sometime in November. It, too, will cost $135.
The Accumeasure 9000 dual-channel summing amplifier from MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY INC. is on the market through MICRON CO., LTD. Designed for thickness measurement with nanometer resolution on the production line, the Latham, New York company's product can be used with any of its standard probes or custom ones. A bar graph display indicates the probe gap of each channel. The Tokyo distributor priced the standard Accumeasure 9000 at $5,400.
Under a January 1996 agreement that gave NTT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CORP. exclusive distribution rights to NORLAND PRODUCTS INC.'s complete line of noncontact and contact interferometric test equipment for analyzing fiber optics, the Tokyo company is marketing the New Brunswick, New Jersey firm's ACCIS NC-3005. Fully automated, the $53,900 noncontact system measures the microstructure and three dimensions of the surface topography of ribbon fiber-optic connectors.
This fall, HEWLETT-PACKARD JAPAN LTD. will release the latest version of the HP Internet Advisor portable protocol analyzer for internetwork data communications testing. The new model brings greater speed and precision to network troubleshooting while extending testing capabilities from Ethernet/Fast Ethernet local and wide area networks to high-speed ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) and Gigabit Ethernet networks. Pricing will start at $28,400. Including models already on the market, HP Japan expects to sell 500 HP Internet Advisor network analyzers.
Three new color measurement instruments codeveloped by COLOR SAVVY SYSTEMS LTD. and TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD. are being marketed by the Japanese partner as part of its Color Stationery Series. The additions to the line, which has been available since April 1996, span a $695 spectrophotometer-type instrument suitable for color research and analysis, a colorimeter instrument, also priced at $695, that has wide application in graphics and interior design, and a calibrator intended for color quality control. The Springboro, Ohio manufacturer of products that assist in accurate color reproduction expects the decided affordability of the new instruments to generate sales of 20,000 units in their first year on the market.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
Late this year, FUJITSU-AMD SEMICONDUCTOR LTD. will launch production of 64-megabit flash memories at its wafer fabrication complex in Aizu- Wakamatsu, Fukushima prefecture. In the process, it will switch to 0.23- micron fabrication techniques from the 0.35-micron technology now used to make 16-megabit flash devices. This advancement allows a 40 percent shrinkage in the size of the chips as well as a 10 percent or so increase in the memory's data transfer rate. Output is scheduled to hit 1.2 million 64- megabit flash memories a month during the second half of 1999. If all goes according to current plan, FASL will start making 128-megabit flash memories at the end of 1999 and 256-megabit parts a year later. Equally owned by ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC. and FUJITSU, LTD., the company inaugurated its second fab early last spring (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 343, April 1998, pp. 16-17).
Add FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. to the list of U.S. semiconductor manufacturers with local subsidiaries. The South Portland, Maine supplier of logic, analog, mixed signal and nonvolatile memory chips and discrete power and signal devices for the communications, computer, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial markets opened a regional headquarters in Tokyo and a sales office in Osaka. Its Japanese operations currently are supported by 36 people in sales, marketing, logistics, quality control and administration.
To provide applications support to customers in Japan, ELANTEC SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. established a technical center in Yokohama. The Milpitas, California company makes and markets analog ICs mainly for video/multimedia, data processing, instrument and communications applications. In addition to its direct presence in Japan, Elantec has sales and technical support offices at its headquarters and in Boston and London.
The Pentium II Xeon processor, the first engine INTEL CORP. specifically developed for midrange and higher servers and workstations, has arrived in Japan. Operating at 400 MHz, the part is designed to help manufacturers of servers and workstations running both the Unix and the Windows NT operating systems to deliver scalability and high availability. The 400- MHz Pentium II Xeon with 1 megabyte of Level 2 cache is priced at $2,900 in quantities of 1,000. .....In a concurrent release, INTEL CORP.'s subsidiary put on the market the performance-enhancing 450 NX PCIset, a second-generation peripheral component interconnect chipset, and the 440 GX AGPset, a new accelerated graphics port chipset.
For $10.85 each in quantities of 100 or more, the subsidiary of Tucson, Arizona-based BURR-BROWN CORP. is selling the VSP2000 chip. A CCD (charge-coupled device) signal processor, the part is a complete digital camera IC suitable for video cameras, digital still cameras, PC cameras and security cameras.
Campbell, California start-up INVOX TECHNOLOGY has signed up a pair of heavyweights — KANEMATSU SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. and INNO MICRO CORP. — to distribute its IVMI1700 line of flash-based, single-chip recording and playback chips, which can accept and store either analog voice and/or digital data. The products are said to store more information within a single standard flash memory than competing devices by using analog storage techniques rather than conventional digital storage. The first member of the IVMI1700 family, which will be targeted at such applications as portable voice recorders, cellular phones, telephone answering devices and personal digital assistants, has up to eight minutes of recording time. The IVMI1708 is sampling now. Once volume production starts, fabless Invox expect the chip to be priced at $5.90 in quantities of 500,000 units.
Voice compression specialist DIGITAL VOICE SYSTEMS, INC. also has gained the help of an experienced technology distributor, INTERNIX, INC., to market its AMBE-1000 Vocoder Chip. The integrated voice coder/decoder chip operates at data rates from 2.4 kilobits per second to 9.6 kbps and is said to provide near toll-quality speech. Scalable in 50-bit increments, the Burlington, Massachusetts developer's product is suited to a number of voice applications. The AMBE-1000 is sampling at $105 apiece.
Thanks to the Voice Dialer IC from SENSORY, INC., telephone equipment soon should be on the market in Japan that allows users to dial any one of 60 numbers simply by saying the name of the person they want to call. The Sunnyvale, California company has tapped MICROTEK INC. to distribute the ASSP (application-specific standard product) part, which is designed for use as a slave chip controlled by an external host processor. The key to the Voice Dialer IC's capabilities is its use of a sophisticated neural network to recognize trained names with a high degree of accuracy. The product costs $5.30 per unit in lots of 100,000.
New distributor KAWASHO CORP. is projecting first-year sales of $3.5 million-plus for VERIDICOM, INC.'s FPS100 digital fingerprint sensor. Designed for such applications as information security, retail point-of- sale identity verification and physical access control, the product acquires fingerprint images using solid-state capacitance sensing. The FPS100 is sampling for $140 each, a price that includes the Santa Clara, California company's proprietary software.
July was an extremely busy month for NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.'s subsidiary as it rolled out one product after another. It started off with the release of the LM3621, a highly integrated, full-function off-line controller for charge and end-of-charge control of a single-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and the system hardware monitoring LM80, a tightly integrated monolithic data acquisition system that continuously checks key analog functions and many crucial digital system signatures. Next came a new family of communications interface ICs that extends the Santa Clara, California company's LVDS (low voltage differential signaling) technology to bus and backplane systems. The Bus LVDS line's initial five devices combine high speed (anywhere from 155 megabits per second to 400 Mbps), low power and low noise/EDI (electromagnetic interference). Then National Semiconductor's affiliate introduced a high-efficiency power controller billed as the industry's smallest. Designed for use in portable PCs, the LM2640 integrates all the functions needed for a precision-reference voltage source, including a power controller and a linear regulator, onto a single chip.
The flurry of new product introductions from NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.'s unit continued with the release of the LM3351, a switched capacitor voltage converter for products like laptop computers and PDAs that provides a 3.3-volt to 5-volt step-up or a 5-volt to 3.3-volt step- down. Finally, the company added the LM4873, a high-performance, space- saving audio amplifier for multimedia laptops to its family of Boomer audio amplifiers, and put on the market the LM4545, a fully integrated stereo audio codec that responds to the demand for quality PC sound in multimedia designs.
Two American companies separately have brought to the Japanese market a new type of semiconductor laser diode known as a vertical cavity surface emitting laser. Developed for use in data communications, high- speed optical interconnect systems for computers and switching gear, optical data storage products and laser printers, VCSELs can be fabricated and tested in wafer scale using established chip processes. They also emit a circular beam rather than the horizontal beam of conventional laser diodes and use less power than these devices. SPIRE CORP., which recently started to make single VCSELs and VCSEL array devices after mastering production of the necessary GaAs epitaxial wafers, teamed with SHIMADZU CORP. to bring its VCSEL products to Japan. The maker of analytical instruments initially will distribute the Bedford, Massachusetts company's products, which currently are designed for data communications applications like Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel. However, it will install production facilities for VCSEL parts at its optoelectronics plant in Atsugi, Kanagawa prefecture, where it will make devices sought by Japanese manufacturers using Spire-supplied wafers. Spire and Shimadzu also will collaborate to extend the wavelength and the power range of VCSELs for additional applications. The partners are looking for sales of $35.5 million in FY 2001.
For its part, EMCORE CORP. is working with HAKUTO CO., LTD., one of the Somerset, New Jersey firm's Asian distributors, to introduce its Gigalase 850 nm VCSEL device. The first commercially available 850 nm VCSEL designed specifically for the merchant optical communications market, Gigalase is intended for fiber-optic communications applications. It, too, is produced from GaAs epitaxial wafers. Hakuto, a Tokyo wholesaler of electronics parts, has a minority interest in Emcore.
In a worldwide release, APPLIED MATERIALS, INC., the leader in wafer fabrication equipment for the semiconductor industry, announced a new system for depositing blanket dielectric films on sub-0.18-micron devices. Producer is described as combining the productivity benefits of twin wafer handling with the advantages of single-wafer process technology. It uses a central transfer chamber enclosing up to three Twin Chamber chemical vapor deposition modules to achieve a throughput of more than 110 wafers an hour. At the same time, each Twin Chamber set uses the same pumps, mass flow controllers and gas delivery systems so that the flexibility and control of single-wafer processing is retained. Built to support multiple device generations, Producer is capable of processing both 200-mm (8-inch) and 300-mm (12-inch) wafers using the same platform. Shipments in Japan, where Producer is priced from $1.4 million, will start in the fourth quarter. Santa Clara, California-based Applied Materials already has orders from customers there.
Plasma etch equipment manufacturer TEGAL CORP. is in the process of shipping a Tegal 6500 series etch system for the production of nonvolatile FeRAM devices to an unnamed customer in Japan. The contract, valued somewhere between $1.8 million and $3 million, represented a follow-up order for the Petaluma, California company's 6500 system.
An exchange rate of ¥141=$1.00 was used in this report.
AMERICA ONLINE, INC.'s local operation has added an on-line stock-trading page to its list of customer services. Developed and supported by IMAGAWA SECURITIES CO., LTD., the service provides real-time stock quotes over the Internet as well as historical data on trading at Japan's top three exchanges. Imagawa Securities has waived its usual annual fee for AOL subscribers, but they have to open an account with the broker's Web Broker system.
About 1,400 outlets that stock EASTMAN KODAK CO. film are participating in the company's Kodak Kids digital image-processing service. Via the Internet, customers can browse through stored photographs and then order copies to be picked up at their local retailer. The copies can be in the form of prints or data on a CD or a magneto-optical disk. The service uses software developed by PHOTONET JAPAN INC., a joint venture between Herndon, Virginia PICTUREVISION INC. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, p. 5) and photofinisher PLAZA CREATE CO., LTD.
Through its subsidiary, LOTUS DEVELOPMENT CORP. is marketing software that allows Internet service providers to host Internet conferences. Using the package, ISPs set up private workspaces on their servers allowing authorized end-users to collaborate using groupware applications. Instant!TEAMROOM enables participants to rent only the software components they need when they need them. Such ISPs as CSK NETWORK SYSTEMS CORP., DIRECT INTERNET CORP., NTT DATA CORP. and NTT PC COMMUNICATIONS, INC. have launched or soon will begin renting TeamRooms.
IBM JAPAN LTD. is offering two electronic commerce packages. The company has bundled its middleware, groupware and other e-commerce applications for resale through SOFTBANK CORP., which will distribute the products through at least 10 value-added resellers and integrators, including CSK CORP. The other product is the Gold Direct electronic banking services package. The suite provides a turnkey solution for financial institutions that quickly want to provide their customers with secure, on-line financial services.
Not to be outdone, MICROSOFT CORP. has teamed with NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP. to offer an e-commerce server package. Using the Japanese version of Microsoft's Site Server 3.0 Electronic Commerce Edition as the core, NTT will develop a suite tailored for local markets. The NTT Commercial Internet/Intranet System will be available in September. It could be the first of just several e-commerce products from the new partners if all goes according to plan.
Yet another electronic server option, GENTRAN:Server for UNIX, is available from STERLING COMMERCE, INC. The Dublin, Ohio-based company already has lined up MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. as a customer. By March 1999, the electronics giant will install 90 servers to link and manage interactions among its global network of offices and factories, generating and tracking an estimated half-million orders and invoices a month. In time, MEI and affiliated companies expect to install GENTRAN:Server at more than 300 locations around the world.
ENGAGE TECHNOLOGIES has formed a company with SUMITOMO CORP. to promote the sale of its anonymous Web site visitor profiler package. The Andover, Massachusetts firm's product is unique, providing Web site administrators with profiles of visitors to their sites in real time. By yearend, the joint venture, in which Engage Technologies has a 49 percent interest, expects to be ready to offer local Webmasters subscriptions to a data base of Engage.Knowledge profiles compiled from visits to sites located in Japan. The new company also has exclusive distribution rights to all other Engage Technologies products. Earlier this year, Sumitomo invested $10 million in CMG INFORMATION SERVICES, INC., the parent of Engage Technologies as well as of ADSMART NETWORK CORP., another company with which the trader has a relationship (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March 1998, p. 7 and p. 20).
With electronic commerce booming in Japan, demand for e-commerce security software is keeping pace. To capitalize on this sales opportunity, SECURITY DYNAMICS TECHNOLOGIES, INC. has signed up MARUBENI CORP. and HITACHI SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CO., LTD. to distribute and support its SecurID and ACE/Server products. The former issues and authenticates digital IDs, while the latter provides integrated firewall/security services. The two firms expect to sell $2.1 million worth of the Bedford, Massachusetts firm's products in the first year of marketing.
The demand for e-commerce security products continues to generate business for VERISIGN, INC. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 346, July 1998, p. 20). Its subsidiary's latest deals include agreements with DAIWA SECURITIES CO., LTD. and NETSCAPE COMMUNICATIONS CORP.'s affiliate for the Mountain View, California firm's digital ID certificate software and services. Daiwa Securities will secure its internal and external links around the world using VeriSign know-how, while Netscape will integrate the technology into its corporate and Inte