NetRange and IK World partner to transform STB market in Latin America and South-East Asia

Partnership provides IK World with the first hybrid Android AOSP App Store paired with the ACCESS NetFront™ Browser BE in STBs to support global market expansion

Hamburg, Germany, February 2nd, 2022 - NetRange MMH GmbH (‘NetRange’), the global provider of white-labelled, turnkey Smart TV and OTT ecosystems, announced its partnership with IK World, the leading OTT Set-Top Box (STB) ODM in China.

This collaboration provides IK World with a combination of ACCESS’s “NetFront™ Browser BE” and NetRange's "NetRange Smart STB App Store" on AOSP. This solution enables IK World to offer rich and legally proven content to users in markets including Latin America and South-East Asia.

The partnership also incorporates NetRange’s cloud-based ad delivery solution to provide IK World with an alternative source of revenue generation. NetRange and its ready-built solution is the perfect partner for STB manufacturers who deal with extremely tight production deadlines. The NetRange portal can be used for all connected devices, including STBs, to meet the increasing demand for content.

The NetRange Smart STB App Store solution gives IK World and its customers access to a pioneering, feature-rich ecosystem that includes global media content. Its users can access leading international premium VoD applications, sports content, games, news apps, and linear TV channels through hundreds of apps from over 100 countries. The collaboration enables IK World to offer STB and other CE device manufacturers and their retailers with world-class, legally-sound content at a cost-efficient price.

“Our number one priority is to ensure that the content we provide to STB manufactures is of the highest quality and without copyright infringement,” said Yi Hua Sheng, Product Director, IK World. “NetRange’s experience and strong relationships with global content providers make it the perfect partner to help us support our customers and ensure that all their app content is legal. NetRange, backed by publicly listed parent company ACCESS., LTD, also provides our company with a flexible business model that was vital in helping IK World to negotiate the challenging COVID-19 situation.”

The HTML5 cloud-based OTT Smart TV Portal supports automatic server-side software upgrades from NetRange, eliminating the need for OTA upgrades from the mainboard. The portal can now be customised without additional support from chipset providers or ODM firmware, creating significant cost and time efficiencies for IK World and its customers without impacting the consumer experience.

“We’re extremely proud of our new cooperation with IK World and delivering the first hybrid Android AOSP App Store with the ACCESS NetFront Browser BE for STBs,” says Shinji Hoshino, VP of Web Platform Business Unit, ACCESS. “This partnership is a significant milestone for NetRange as it directly supports our strategy to expand further into the global STB market. We look forward to helping more STB ODMs to thrive through our strong portfolio of rich and legally-sourced content.”

The combination of the NetRange Portal and ACCESS NetFront Browser BE offers IK World and other STB customers a cost-effective solution that can quickly achieve software configuration and portal design to meet project deadlines in the shortest possible time. Collaboration between the two teams enables any issues to be identified and fixed from the portal and browser. Together they create and execute an exceptional and highly efficient service that delivers top levels of customer satisfaction.

About IK World

SHENZHEN IK WORLD TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD. Is a collection of intelligent innovation design, manufacturing, intelligent integration and interconnection, intelligent service as one of the national high-tech enterprises. The company was founded in September 2011, the registered capital increased to 100 million yuan, the existing staff of more than 1000 people, passed the ISO9001:2015 quality management system certification in 2017, has ERP and MES production management system. Products cover OTT, IPC, industrial control, commercial display, routing, projection and other types of home and personal intelligent device terminals. It is widely used in many AIOT fields, such as home VIDEO and life, network office and business display, personal intelligent interconnection, etc. It is the first-class intelligent hardware supplier of many Tier1 Internet enterprises in China (Ali, Baidu, Tencent, etc.). The market of the company has been expanded and covered mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Europe, America, South America, Africa and other regions. OTT leads the market in the global free market coverage, and the global shipments of many other smart terminals are also among the top. The intelligent manufacturing center of the company covers more than 60,000 square meters and adopts a complete range of leading production equipment and instruments in the industry. It is also an excellent emerging intelligent manufacturing enterprise introduced by Guangming District.

About ACCESS

Since 1984, ACCESS CO., LTD. (Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section Index, 4813) has been providing advanced IT solutions centred on mobile and network software technologies to telecom carriers, consumer electronics manufacturers, broadcasting and publishing companies, the automotive industry and energy infrastructure providers around the world. The company develops mobile software solutions that have been installed on over 1.5 billion devices, and network software solutions that have been used by more than 350 companies. Utilising its network virtualisation technology expertise and knowledge, the company is currently focusing on the development and commercialisation of Internet of Things (IoT) and media solutions that combine embedded and cloud technology. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the company maintains subsidiaries and affiliates in Asia, Europe and the United States to support and expand its business globally. Learn more about ACCESS at www.access-company.com.

Press Contact

Europe
Platform Communications
David Bramley
+44 (0) 203 832 3690
ACCESS@platformcomms.com

Head Office (Japan)
Miyuki Hanzawa
+81 (3) 5259-3685
miyuki.hanzawa@access-company.com

About NetRange

NetRange, an ACCESS CO., LTD. company (Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section Index, 4813), is a leading pioneer of Smart TV and a global provider of white labelled, turnkey Smart TV and OTT ecosystems and app stores.

NetRange operates an integrated, full-service solution which includes UI design, payment, billing and customer management, content aggregation, backend services including global CDN, second level support and app development for more than 100 global CE, TV, STB, retailer and operator brands, including Vodafone, Grundig, Arçelik, TCL, Skyworth, Sharp, Loewe, Changhong, IKEA, MSH, Thomson HD+. Its fully featured Smart TV Appstore includes local and global premium VoD stores, linear TV channels via IP, cloud games, live sports, music and lifestyle apps. It makes media content available for TV users in over 100 countries around the world.

In addition, NetRange also leverages its content relationships and broadcast technology expertise to provide OS.CAR, a connected car infotainment platform and VISNOS, a client-based Smart TV OS that significantly reduces the BOM cost for TV manufacturers through enabling a full Smart TV through devices with low-powered CPUs.