Press Releases

IP&TV World Forum Sees EMEA Launch of ACCESS’ TV Centric NetFront™ Browser NX 2.0 with Advanced HTML5 Functionality

Oberhausen, Germany, March 19th, 2012 − ACCESS CO., LTD, a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile, beyond-PC and digital TV markets, today announces the UK launch of NetFront^™ Browser NX 2.0 DTV Profile.

The ACCESS’ NetFront^™ NX browser provides the video industry with much more than an HTML5 web-browser. It is also a UI and Graphics engine, designed to enable advanced functionality such as the display and running on TVs, set-top boxes and CE devices of animated/3D EPG or VoD portals and running multi-player HTML5 games.

NetFront Browser NX 2.0 DTV Profile is an advanced new WebKit-based HTML5 browser that features extremely efficient memory usage, high stability, high portability and comprehensive support for DTV and IPTV standards including BBC iPlayer, D-Book 7 and HbbTV. The browser has been built on ACCESS’ experience of designing the NetFront series, which has been integrated in over one billion devices, to make it an ideal solution for DTVs, set-top boxes (STBs) and Blu-ray Disc^™ players.

“We have developed NetFront Browser NX 2.0 DTV Profile using the WebKit Core and then used our extensive expertise in delivering embedded software solutions to provide the video industry with the best possible browser for connected TV, media sharing and OTT applications,” said Dr. Neale Foster, VP of Global Sales IA, ACCESS. “It’s clear that the desktop browser industry is 100% behind HTML5 and we think it’s crucial that the broadcast and video industries follow suit. Our approach of extending WebKit engine with specific industry requirements such as HbbTV, BBC iPlayer, DLNA and D-Book 7 provides TV and set-top box manufacturers, middleware providers, chipset vendors and application developers with the best browser for rendering web contents and displaying on-screen UI and graphics. We will continue to develop new functionality to make sure that the technology lead that NetFront Browser NX 2.0 DTV Profile has continues to increase.”

HTML5 has a number of important advantages for the video and broadcast industry, as follows:

• It is an open standard, royalty free and has no certification/test procedures
• ACCESS has provided backwards compatibility to Adobe^® Flash^® 10.X through a plug-in, so that legacy applications continue to run, reducing the industry’s build costs
• It is a cross-platform standard that’s optimized to simplify development and has a large community of developers providing minimized cost and time to market
• HTML5 RUI (remote user interface) fits perfectly into multi-screen plans of Pay TV operators
• HTML5 can be used as UI engine to render advanced UI effects and provide powerful interactivity and support advanced EPGs, VOD and connected games
• HTML5 has been extended by ACCESS to seamlessly support TV/CE standards and specifications such as DLNA, D-Book7, BBC iPlayer, RUI, etc.
• The evolution of HTML5 is expected to provide much needed video and broadcast industry requirements such as adaptive streaming technologies and DRM solutions.

Note to editors:

• If you would like to meet with an ACCESS spokesperson at IP&TV World Forum, please contact Sally Douglas of Platform PR: sally@platformpr.com, (T) +44 (0)20 7486 4900.

About ACCESS
ACCESS CO., LTD. is a global provider of advanced software solutions and services to the mobile, embedded, Connected TV, Connected Home, automotive, digital publishing and networking markets. ACCESS’ product portfolio including its NetFront^™ Software Series provides customers with solutions that enable faster time-to-market, flexibility and customizability. The company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operates subsidiaries and affiliates in Asia, Europe and the United States. ACCESS is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers’ Index under the number 4813. For additional information, please visit www.access-company.com.

© 2012 ACCESS CO., LTD. All rights reserved.
ACCESS, the ACCESS logo, and NetFront are registered trademarks or trademarks of ACCESS CO., LTD. in the United States, Japan and/or other countries. DLNA is a registered trademark of the Digital Living Network Alliance. Digital Living Network Alliance is a service mark of the Digital Living Network Alliance. Adobe and Flash are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks, logos and trade names mentioned in the document are the property of their respective owners.