ACCESS (company)
Encyclopedia
founded in April 1979 and incorporated in February 1984 in Tokyo
, Japan
, by Arakawa Toru and Kamada Tomihisa, is a company providing a variety of software for connected and mobile devices, such as mobile phone
s, PDA
s, video game console
s and set top boxes.
The company has gained wide recognition for its NetFront
software series, which has been deployed in over 1 billion devices, representing over 2,000 models, as of the end of January 2011, and which has been used as a principal element of the widely successful i-mode
data service of NTT DoCoMo
in Japan. NetFront is also used by a large number of consumer electronic devices beyond mobile phones, such as the Sony PSP
and the Amazon Kindle
, both of which have their web browsers powered by NetFront. In addition, the NetFront Browser and related products are used on a wide variety of mobile phones, including those from Nokia
, Samsung
, LG Corp., Motorola
, Sony Ericsson
, and others.
In September 2005, ACCESS acquired PalmSource
, the owner of the Palm OS
and BeOS
. The company has used these assets and expertise to create the ACCESS Linux Platform
, an open-source Linux
-based platform for smartphone
s and other mobile devices, with some proprietary parts including the user interface and some middleware. The ACCESS Linux Platform 3.0 was released to the market in October 2008. Two of the world's largest operators, NTT DoCoMo and Orange, have announced support for ACCESS Linux Platform-based handsets.
In March 2006, ACCESS acquired IP Infusion, Inc., a provider of intelligent networking software, providing Layer 2 and Layer 3 carrier-class switching and routing as well as a comprehensive forwarding plane implementation supporting L2, L3 (IPv4 & v6), multicast and MPLS/Traffic Engineering.
ACCESS is active in open source-related efforts, including memberships in the Linux Foundation
and the Linux Phone Standards Forum
. In 2007, ACCESS employees presented at GUADEC
(which the company also sponsored) and the Ottawa Linux Symposium.
As of April 2010, ACCESS employs approximately 2,100 people globally, with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and facilities in the USA (Sunnyvale, CA), France (Montpellier), Germany (Oberhausen), Korea (Seoul), the PRC (Nanjing and Beijing) and Taiwan (Taipei).
The company reports consolidated revenues of ¥32.4 billion (for the fiscal year ending January 2010).
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, by Arakawa Toru and Kamada Tomihisa, is a company providing a variety of software for connected and mobile devices, such as mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s, PDA
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
s, video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s and set top boxes.
The company has gained wide recognition for its NetFront
NetFront
NetFront Browser is a mobile browser for embedded devices, developed by Access Co. Ltd. of Japan, and was designed to function as an embedded browser....
software series, which has been deployed in over 1 billion devices, representing over 2,000 models, as of the end of January 2011, and which has been used as a principal element of the widely successful i-mode
I-mode
NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a mobile internet service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocol, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail and the packet-switched network that delivers the data...
data service of NTT DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo
is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. Docomo provides phone, video phone , i-mode , and mail services...
in Japan. NetFront is also used by a large number of consumer electronic devices beyond mobile phones, such as the Sony PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
and the Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle
The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 which uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media...
, both of which have their web browsers powered by NetFront. In addition, the NetFront Browser and related products are used on a wide variety of mobile phones, including those from Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, LG Corp., Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
, and others.
In September 2005, ACCESS acquired PalmSource
PalmSource
ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. is a subsidiary of ACCESS which develops the Palm OS PDA operating system and its successor, the Access Linux Platform, as well as BeOS...
, the owner of the Palm OS
Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
and BeOS
BeOS
BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing...
. The company has used these assets and expertise to create the ACCESS Linux Platform
Access Linux Platform
The Access Linux Platform , once referred to as a "next-generation version of the Palm OS" is an open source-based operating system for mobile devices developed and marketed by Access Co., of Tokyo, Japan. The platform includes execution environments for Java, classic Palm OS, and GTK+-based native...
, an open-source Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
-based platform for smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s and other mobile devices, with some proprietary parts including the user interface and some middleware. The ACCESS Linux Platform 3.0 was released to the market in October 2008. Two of the world's largest operators, NTT DoCoMo and Orange, have announced support for ACCESS Linux Platform-based handsets.
In March 2006, ACCESS acquired IP Infusion, Inc., a provider of intelligent networking software, providing Layer 2 and Layer 3 carrier-class switching and routing as well as a comprehensive forwarding plane implementation supporting L2, L3 (IPv4 & v6), multicast and MPLS/Traffic Engineering.
ACCESS is active in open source-related efforts, including memberships in the Linux Foundation
Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a non-profit technology consortium chartered to foster the growth of Linux.Founded in 2007 by the merger of the Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group , the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading...
and the Linux Phone Standards Forum
Linux Phone Standards Forum
The Linux Phone Standards Forum is a consortium of a group of companies to create standards for the use of Linux on mobile devices. The main goal of the LiPS Forum is to create application programming interfaces that will allow developers to build applications to inter-operate across Linux...
. In 2007, ACCESS employees presented at GUADEC
GUADEC
The GNOME Users And Developers European Conference, is an annual conference taking place in Europe, whose topic is the development of the GNOME desktop environment....
(which the company also sponsored) and the Ottawa Linux Symposium.
As of April 2010, ACCESS employs approximately 2,100 people globally, with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and facilities in the USA (Sunnyvale, CA), France (Montpellier), Germany (Oberhausen), Korea (Seoul), the PRC (Nanjing and Beijing) and Taiwan (Taipei).
The company reports consolidated revenues of ¥32.4 billion (for the fiscal year ending January 2010).
History
ACCESS was founded in April 1979 by Toru Arakawa and Tomihisa Kamada and has since grown into a global company with approximately 1,000 employees. ACCESS is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has opened offices in the U.S., Germany, China, Korea, and Taiwan. Incorporated in 1984, ACCESS stock is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mother’s Index under the number 4813.Historical timeline
| Apr 1979 | ACCESS founded by Toru Arakawa and ACCESS Announces NetFront™ Browser NX |
| Sep 1986 | Original TCP/IP developed, commercialized as AVE™-TCP |
| Feb 1996 | NetFront introduced – software for Internet browsing, installed in internet TVs and word processors |
| Feb 1998 | Compact NetFront™ introduced – the industry’s first compact HTML browser for mobile phones |
| Feb 2001 | ACCESS CO., LTD. listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Index (ticker code 4813) |
| Oct 2003 | NetFront Browser surpasses 100 million deployments |
| Feb 2004 | NetFront™ Mobile Client Suite introduced |
| Nov 2005 | ACCESS acquires PalmSource, Inc. |
| Apr 2006 | ACCESS acquires IP Infusion Inc. |
| Dec 2006 | ACCESS, OKI and OKI ACCESS Technologies jointly develop NetFront™ IMS Client Package and NetFront Media Player Set - industry's first commercial IMS solution |
| Feb 2008 | NetFront deployments surpass 500 million worldwide |
| May 2008 | ACCESS Unveils NetFront™ IP Connect Home Gateway Middleware |
| Jul 2008 | ACCESS Launches Mobile Widget Community Site |
| Oct 2008 | ACCESS™ PIM Solution selected by China Telecom for mobile network construction |
| Dec 2008 | NetFront Browser Widget service provided to NTT DoCoMo smartphones |
| May 2009 | comScore Mobile Confirms ACCESS’NetFront™ Browser as Most Widely Available Handset Browser in Europe and U.S. |
| Feb 2010 | ACCESS Becomes Member of HbbTV Consortium |
| Feb 2010 | ACCESS Announces NetFront™ for Android™ |
| Nov 2010 | ACCESS Announces the Release of NetFront™ Life An Application Series for End Users |
| Feb 2011 | NetFront™ Software Series Deployments Surpass One Billion Worldwide |
| Feb 2011 | ACCESS Opens New Digital Publishing Opportunities for Content Providers |
| Jun 2011 | ACCESS Announces NetFront™ Browser NX |
Memberships
- Digital Living Network AllianceDigital Living Network AllianceThe Digital Living Network Alliance is a non-profit collaborative trade organization established by Sony in June 2003, and has more than 250 member companies in the mobile, consumer electronics, PC, and service provider industries...
- Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV consortium
- Digital Transmission Content ProtectionDigital Transmission Content ProtectionDigital Transmission Content Protection, or DTCP, is a digital rights management technology that aims to restrict "digital home" technologies including DVD players and televisions by encrypting interconnections between devices...
- GENIVI AllianceGENIVI AllianceThe GENIVI Alliance is a non-profit consortium founded on March 2, 2009 by BMW Group, Delphi, GM, Intel, Magneti-Marelli, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Visteon, and Wind River Systems. The goal of the alliance is to establish a globally competitive, Linux-based operating system, middleware and platform for...
- Infrared Data AssociationInfrared Data AssociationThe Infrared Data Association defines physical specifications communications protocol standards for the short-range exchange of data over infrared light, for uses such as personal area networks ....
- LiMo FoundationLiMo FoundationThe LiMo Foundation is an non-profit technology consortium organization dedicated to creating the first truly open, hardware-independent, Linux-based mobile operating system for smartphone mobile devices...
- SD Association
- UPnP
- World Wide Web ConsortiumWorld Wide Web ConsortiumThe World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...