ACCESS and Panasonic Partner to Promote Open Platform for Internet TV Services

LAS VEGAS — 2011 International CES — ACCESS CO. LTD. (TOKYO: 4813), a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile, beyond-PC and digital TV markets, and Panasonic Corporation (NYSE:PC; Tokyo:6752) today announced a partnership with the aim of promoting an open platform for Internet TV services. As part of this initiative, Panasonic will provide its Ajax-CE middleware with high-speed performance, rich multimedia expression capabilities and compact code footprint, used on its VIERA Cast™/VIERA Connect™ Internet TV service. Based on this middleware, ACCESS will provide a platform for Internet TV services under the global brand name NetFront™ TV Cast to TV and set-top box (STB) manufacturers and content providers (CPs) throughout the world.

Internet TV services are expected to accelerate globally. With the goal of providing end users with more satisfying Internet TV services more quickly, ACCESS and Panasonic have entered into a partnership to promote an open platform for Internet TV services. By leveraging its advanced engineering expertise and strong network with major TV manufacturers, established as an independent software provider, ACCESS will promote this solution as an ideal, open Internet TV services platform, based on Panasonic’s Ajax-CE middleware, throughout the world. ACCESS will also drive new generations of services that operate on the platform and will provide comprehensive Internet TV services that satisfy a wide variety of end user needs on a global basis.

Dr. Tomihisa Kamada, President and CEO, ACCESS stated, “The demand for Internet connected TV is growing all over the world, and the yearly number of units shipped is expected to reach 118 million in 2014, which is about an eight-fold increase in comparison with the number in 2009*. The key to penetrating this rapidly growing Internet TV services market in the future is through the expansion of services and a reduction in time-to-market. In order to address these needs quickly, we will promote NetFront TV Cast as an open standard while working diligently to energize the TV industry together with Panasonic.”

ACCESS’ NetFront™ Browser DTV Profile enjoys an outstanding, global deployment record, with more than ten major TV manufacturers deploying the solution to date. By integrating the browser with NetFront TV Cast, ACCESS will be able to provide a broad range of services for Internet TV.

* Excerpted from a press release from DisplaySearch, a US research company, published on Oct. 18, 2010.