Press Releases

Facilitates Partnership and Sales Discussions Between U.S. and Japanese Technology Companies

(MAKUHARI MESSE, JAPAN-OCTOBER 3, 2005) The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) today announced its second annual business-matching program, October 4-8, 2005 at Asia's largest IT trade show, the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) in Makuhari Messe, Japan. The program provides many emerging North American technology companies interested in establishing a business presence in Japan direct access to nearly 100 leading Japanese companies.

The JETRO @ CEATEC 2005 program includes admission to CEATEC JAPAN 2005, business networking events and the opportunity to gain insights on recent trends and current practices in the Japanese market. The highlight of this program is one-on-one pre-arranged business meetings between program participants and Japanese companies. In addition, JETRO will co-host an international reception with Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries (JEITA) on the evening of October 4 where the president of JETRO will comment on his organization's mission and discuss the business-matching program.

During the 2004 business-partnering program, over 200 meetings were conducted and several participants later signed agreements with the Japanese partners with whom they met during the program. Japanese companies participating in this year's business-matching program are expected to include Toshiba, NEC, CSK, Hitachi, among others. Building upon its previous success, JETRO expects the number of companies participating in CEATEC Japan 2005 to double as compared to CEATEC 2004.

Through programs and services such as these, JETRO provides strong support to North American companies looking for successful entry and expansion in the Japanese market. JETRO will also hold a counterpart event in the United States at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2006.

"The success of global partnerships depend on events such as CEATEC to bring all interested parties together in one forum that is conducive to business transactions and discussions," said Masahiko Hosokawa, president of JETRO's New York office. "We believe there is no better place to offer a business-matching program that is unique and valuable because of JETRO's focus on facilitating economic growth between U.S. and Japan in the field of advanced IT and communication technology. We look forward to facilitating these meetings between successful North American and Japanese companies and influencing potential partnerships in the future."

North American companies participating in the program fall into numerous technology sectors, including biometrics, broadband content, encryption/authentication, mobile devices, online security, voice over IP and wireless LAN. This year's participants include: InternetSpeech, Sourcefire, Jazz Semiconductor, Levanta, Lotus Web Studios, Inc., nCircle Network Security, OutStart, Politec Inc., ProDVD, Vividsight, Inc., WiQuest Communications, Inc., LMSOFT, Matrixstream Technologies Inc., Siborg Systems Inc. and Phoenix Technologies.

"Last year we participated in JETRO @ CEATEC 2004 to partner with Japanese companies and sell our solutions," remarked last year's participant Mr. Jack Chung, CEO of MatrixStream Technologies Inc. "JETRO's business matching was very useful in identifying the proper partners. We tried to find partners for the last three years for our IPTV and Video on demand platform before JETRO and failed. After the business-matching programs, we found a Japanese partner and signed a deal right away."

The theme of CEATEC JAPAN 2005 is the Advancing Ubiquitous Society, focusing on a sector that in Japan is projected to grow to approximately $557 billion USD by the end of 2005. Japanese companies hold the world's top share in digital home devices (including game consoles and digital cameras), and Japan is quickly developing as the industry leader of integrated ubiquitous markets. All of the major Japanese players will showcase their latest technologies at CEATEC 2005, providing opportunities to network and find future partners.

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