News Release
eflow and Minigate Enter Into Strategic Partnership
to Market Advanced Widget Service Platform in Japan, and other Asian markets
eflow and Minigate to Demonstrate Miniple™ Widget Platform at ESEC Exhibition, Tokyo, May 13-15
May 12, 2009
Tokyo, Japan - May 12, 2009 - eflow Inc. (Tokyo, Shibuya-ku, Yoyogi – CEO: Koichi Makabe) and Minigate Co., Ltd. (Seoul, Geumcheon-gu, Gasan-Dong - CEO: Hoon Jung) today announced a strategic partnership that will bring the advanced cross-device, OS- and network-independent Miniple widget service platform to device manufacturers and operators in Japan, Taiwan R.O.C., and mainland China.
eflow, a leading provider of integrated solutions combining Java™, Browser and Skype™ technologies for digital home and mobile devices, and Minigate, the developer of the Miniple™ widget service platform have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that outlines plans for strategic cooperation to further enhance and augment Minigate's Miniple platform, and combine it with eflow's core technologies and products.
"This partnership brings together the respective strengths of both companies: a truly OS-independent, multi-device, synchronized widget and internet service platform combined with our core expertise in embedded device software development, and core Java, Browser, and multimedia content distribution technologies.
The beauty of Miniple is that it features a complete client-server content synchronization model using the widget metaphor, bringing truly compelling services to users, without having to care where, when, and on which device they access those services, while seamlessly integrating monetization models. This is a major differentiator from other client-only widget technologies, and tremendous value for our customers.", said Koichi Makabe, CEO, eflow Inc.
"Miniple is a market-proven and patented technology that is the result of more than 7 years of development and deployment. It is probably one of the most advanced widget and contents services platforms around. Korea Telecom (KT) has selected it as its standard digital contents service platform for its Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone media device, the“Style Phone", available to Korea's 24 million residential customers, and we strive to make our widget technology a global standard. We believe our strong partnership with eflow will blend our competitive edges, and will be key in addressing not only the Japanese market but also other Asian markets. Miniple is one of the best and most flexible solutions for creating "open market", free business models, and realizing 4-screen contents integration service between Mobile phone, IPTV, Desktop and VoIP media phone for true service fluidity and continuity across devices.", said Hoon Jung, CEO and President, Minigate Co., Ltd.
eflow together with Minigate will demonstrate the Miniple platform technology at the upcoming ESEC exhibition held at Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan, from May 13 to 15.
The Miniple service platform: "Network Free, Device Free, and OS Free."
Miniple is a wired/wireless interlocking content delivery service platform that currently allows users to synchronize and use web content and services between 4 typical categories of devices: IPTV, Desktop PC, Mobile phone and VoIP media phone, independently of the particularities of a given operating system or network environment, or device type.
The Miniple platform is not limited to client-side widgets, but includes a comprehensive and scalable back-end server architecture to deliver rich digital content to all devices, giving the users quicker and easier access to always-on and synchronized information on the idle screen of their diverse devices on a unified wired-wireless network: weather forecast, stocks, sports, news and traffic updates, cooking recipes, flight information, entertainment, etc.
The Miniple platform can be ported to, and optimized for, multiple devices or network infrastructures. Miniple is targeted at device manufacturers, OEMs, as well as network operators willing to further enhance their service offering to their subscribers.
About eflow
Leveraging its core expertise and extensive experience in embedded Java™, browser, multimedia, and Skype™ technologies, eflow offers platform-independent software products and integrated solutions, tied-in with multimedia content and web services delivery models, and targeted at next-generation consumer connected devices in the digital home, mobile, and automotive markets.
eSpinner (formerly Esprit), a feature-rich source code level modular embedded browser, FlexMotion, a mutlimedia player and content delivery framework for movies, documents, manga, and music content, and CloudRunner (formerly OSVM), a very lightweight VM engine for resource-constrained devices, Miniple, a web services and widget client-server platform, and Jbed™, a highly optimized Java VM, are among eflow's flaghsip products.
eflow is a key advocate and technology expert of the Android™ platform, for which it provides a comprehensive range of services from VM optimization to WebKit customization to assistance in integration and deployment.
eflow is also a prominent integrator of Skype™ technology, effectively bringing the legendary Skype experience to consumer devices, and the developer of the official Skype API wrapper library for Java, and the Skype for Flash® runtime.
eflow is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with offices in Seoul, Taipei, and Beijing, and can be found on the web at http://www.eflow.jp/
About Minigate
Founded in 2001 by internet entrepreneur Hoon Jung, CEO and president, Minigate is a leading company in digital multimedia contents development and distribution, and at the forefront of cross-platform widget services technology, deployed across multiple devices ranging from mobile and smart phones to IPTV (set-top boxes) and Digital TV, to Mobile Internet Devices (MID) and portable navigation or entertainment devices. Minigate was a Red Herring 100 Asia finalist in 2008, and secured investment from US venture capital firm DFJ in the same year. Minigate’s major customers are market leaders and include Korea Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, LG Electronics, LG Nortel, Reigncom, Motorola and Pantech. Minigate has also established strong eco-business partnerships with Intel, ARM, and Texas Instruments. Minigate is headquartered in Seoul, Korea, and can be found on the web at: http://www.minigate.net/
Media Contacts
eflow Inc.: Arnaud Caille
+81-3-5333-5430
Embedded Systems Expo (ESEC) 2009: May 13 (Wed) 〜 15 (Fri)
http://www.esec.jp/en/
Tokyo Big Sight, East Hall 4
- Booth # 45-8
Show hours: 10:00～18:00（17:00 on last day）
Minigate Co., Ltd.：Richard Choi
+82-2-3448-1540