Sumitomo STBs for NTT Plala UltraHD 4K HEVC VOD trial

Sumitomo Electric Networks Provides 4Kp60 IP Set Top Boxes for NTT Plala’s UltraHD 4K HEVC VOD (Video On Demand) Trial in Japan

TOKYO — Sumitomo Electric Networks, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (TOKYO:5802)(ISIN:JP3407400005), today announced that it has been selected by NTT Plala, the largest IPTV Service Provider in Japan, to provide Ultra High Definition “4K” “p60” (60 frames per second) Set Top Boxes, its Stream Cruiser® SmartTV ST4100 Series, for the carrier’s 4K video streaming trial service of “Hikari-TV”, starting from April 8th, 2014. Sumitomo has collaborated with ViXS Systems Inc., a Toronto, Canada based leading supplier of 4K SoC’s, to design the new Set Top Box ST4112 for this trial service.

Sumitomo Electric Networks, Inc. is Japan’s leading supplier of SmartTV IP Set Top Boxes, with millions of units in commercial operation, and has long been a supplier to NTT Plala for its Hikari-TV service. Today’s announcement follows NTT Plala’s Business Briefing on October 21, 2013, in which it announced trials of “4K” video, as well as its plan to offer commercial Ultra High Definition service to its customers in 2014.

The ST4112 IP Set Top Box for this trial service supports the decoding of 4K video content at 60 frames per second (4Kp60) with “HEVC” (ITU-T H.265) video compression technology, by utilizing the latest ViXS XCode XC6400 series SoC. ST4100 series IP Set Top Boxes also support a number of leading edge capabilities, including HDMI 2.0 output, MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP), several types of DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies and the IPv6 network.

When coupled with in-house developed IP streaming technology from Sumitomo Electric Networks, the new Set Top Box offers an unparalleled viewing experience for the subscriber, made possible by 4Kp60 content being sent over an IP broadband network, and with such video streams being decoded on a real-time basis stably.

“NTT Plala will make any efforts to enable the transition to UltraHD 4K services in the Japanese content market, and we needed innovative and reliable partners, such as Sumitomo Electric Networks and ViXS, to help us achieve our ambitious goals,” said Katsumi Nagata, Board Director, Executive Director, Technology and Engineering Division, NTT Plala. “We are excited to provide the launch of this new UltraHD 4K service in trials, showing the public the amazing video quality they can expect from NTT Plala’s “Hikari-TV”.

Sumitomo Electric Networks, Inc. expects to continue in its leadership role in the development of next generation video services, by leveraging its broad experience in IPTV, video streaming, and market proven products.