Japanese Companies Expand Coalition’s International Footprint

Alexandria VA, June 12, 2019 – The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance continues to expand, with more technology firms joining the coalition asadoption of ATSC 3.0, Next Generation Television, picks up steam. The addition of two major Japanese technology firms further expands the international footprint of the organization dedicated to development of advanced emergency alerting using ATSC 3.0.

New members are:

  • T-NET Japan is a “total engineering company” developing an extensive range of technologies on a global scale.
  • Internet Initiative Japan is a global leader in network services, value-added outsourcing services, cloud computing, WAN services and systems integration services.
  • Unisoft offers an ATSC 3.0 delivery system including the ATCaster broadcast stream generator, ATSC SFG signing server, ATEME TITAN Encoder, Enensys Scheduler, ProTelevision Exciter and integration services.
  • Gaian Solutions specializes in operating AI and ML based content monetization two sided marketplaces across industry verticals. Live OTT sports, broadcast localization, alerting services and out of home monetization opportunities.

The growth of AWARN’s membership comes as the coalition’s mission has evolved to include not just emergency alerting, but a wider range of news and information that a television newsroom, working with emergency managers, can provide. The Alliance will be launching roundtable discussions with TV news thought leaders in the months ahead. The goal is development of a voluntary framework for packaging a TV station’s news assets and using ATSC 3.0 to engage with viewers as their trusted information source across multiple devices.

AWARN Alliance Executive Director John Lawson, noting the announcement last month that FOX Television Stations became the first major broadcast network to join the Alliance, said the new tech company members indicate the upward trajectory of AWARN.

“Our new members bring years of experience in advanced television, as well as the integration of over-the-air television and the internet. Our new Japanese members also bring first-hand knowledge of the Japanese emergency warning system, the most sophisticated in the world. The expertise that all of these companies bring in developing the full potential of Next Gen TV is a major asset in achieving our goals,” Lawson said.

Yoshi Tsurimaki, producer, business development for T-NET Japan, said, “We see great potential for ATSC 3.0 interoperability with the world’s other key technical standards, such as W3C, 3GPP, and Hybridcast. We are happy to support AWARN because it presents a very clear use case for the power of an all-IP broadcast transmission capability.”

Lawson and Tsurimaki are panelists at the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco, June 12-13.

AWARN Alliance

The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance is a cross-industry, international coalition formed to create the world’s most advanced emergency messaging system. Members include commercial and public broadcasters who reach 90 percent of U.S. households, consumer technology makers, and B2B tech companies. AWARN is based on the Next Generation Television transmission standard (ATSC 3.0), which the FCC has approved for voluntary use by broadcasters. When fully deployed, AWARN can deliver geo-targeted, rich-media alerts to an unlimited number of enabled TVs, connected cars, and handheld devices even when cellular fails or the grid is down.

For more information

John Lawson
AWARN Alliance Office
(703) 347-7070 Mobile
(202) 302-1654
JLawson@AWARN.org