Thu, 27 Oct 2016 17:00:12 +0900 hourly 1 /release/201610275672 Thu, 27 Oct 2016 17:00:12 +0900 Asteria - Japan's Top EAI Company Ventures into IoT Software Industry to Realize Greater Efficiency in Field Work through IoT Applications - Software technology company Infoteria Corporation is to release "Platio" ... Infoteria Corporation
Infoteria to Release "Platio," Non-coding Development Platform for IoT Business Apps
- Japan's Top EAI Company Ventures into IoT Software Industry to Realize Greater Efficiency in Field Work through IoT Applications -

Software technology company Infoteria Corporation is to release "Platio" (https://plat.io/en/home) a non-programming rapid app development platform to be available early next year. In addition to being able to create business apps , Platio, Infoteria's first step into Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, will support field work operations through the utilization of IoT device applications.

Demand for rapid IoT app development
Great attention has been given to increased efficiency through IoT applications for field work as seen in industries like healthcare, construction and agriculture. Many different companies now offer a variety of IoT devices, including product-embedded sensors for inspection and devices equipped with communication functions for ascertaining physical information.

"Business applications for IoT devices require mobile-type apps matching each domain of business. Because IoT applications often bring serious changes to work processes, gradual yet quick app development through consultation with field workers is critical," says Munekazu Matsumura, Marketing Director for IoT/Mobile Services at Infoteria.

Matsumura explains, "The development of IoT applications taking interactions between developers and field workers into account has proven to be difficult because of the need for various other processes including app development, app distribution and cloud system preparation to save field data and authenticate information. At Infoteria, we're overcoming these challenges by removing barriers not only for developers but also non-technical skilled individuals, giving them more flexibility so they are able to maximize creativity."

"Platio streamlines the app development process. Users can create apps by selecting and customizing the readily available templates. Along with the selection of templates, data storage in the cloud and user management functions are automatically prepared, relieving the developers from the burden of having to prepare servers for data storage. Deployment of apps is also easy with distribution and updates of apps made possible through a single click," adds Matsumura.

Since IoT is still in its formative years, companies have a distinct early adopter advantage. Most of current IoT apps are focusing on a single IoT device, and they lack the ability to link different IoT devices together. Platio allows businesses to address this issue.

Overview of Platio

Platio is a non-programming platform that allows businesses to develop IoT apps, transforming the way businesses have thus far operated.

There are three main solutions Platio delivers to businesses:

1. Reducing the burden of software development
- End -user software and app development is always an afterthought for major IoT device manufacturers, resulting in the development of apps that do not live up to expectations and extensions.
- With Platio, IoT device manufacturers no longer have to worry about end-user software and app development. With a simple Select-Customize-Deploy operation, manufacturers can create customized apps for their devices in a matter of minutes. Without the need for any coding knowledge, manufacturers can connect and test their devices immediately.
2. Flexibility to connect to various IoT devices
- The IoT industry is still in its infancy stage. This means that IoT applications and devices are limited, and usually come heavily customized and as a set with the ability to connect to only a single device or a single product line.
- With Platio, users can create customized apps by selecting and editing fields of existing templates. A single customized Platio app can connect not only to healthcare devices (such as thermometers and blood pressure monitors), but also to equipment with air pressure and humidity sensors. With the increased flexibility to connect to a range of IoT devices, businesses can brainstorm and realize ways to streamline their business operations.

3. Relieving users from management costs
- With the advancement of technology, not only do developers have to make sure that servers are maintained periodically, they also have to make sure that applications are fully functional on the latest operating system. If the applications are heavily customized, up-keeping costs such as server maintenance and app updates can prove to be high. With Platio, data cloud storage and management features are automatically built, so users don't have to worry about maintenance of any sort. By accessing the customized app through Platio, users can be sure that their app is always up to date, and can leave the maintenance of cloud servers and the Platio app to us.

In short, Platio streamlines the app development process, from developing to deploying apps for IoT devices -- all without the need for any coding knowledge.

About Infoteria Corporation
Infoteria Corporation was founded in 1998, originally as a software company specializing in XML software development. It then expanded to create software for linking various computer systems and devices together, and focused on becoming a software vendor offering full support. Its flagship product, ASTERIA, is used to integrate various software systems, without the need for coding or costly software development. As of May 2015, ASTERIA is introduced across 5,020 major and mid-sized corporations throughout Japan.

Another notable product at Infoteria, Handbook is cloud-based software that allows businesses to access company documents, product catalogs and meeting materials through smartphones and tablets. With a strong emphasis on digital security and presentation quality, Handbook comes accompanied with feedback, quiz, questionnaire and HTML5 presentation features. As of September 2015, Handbook is introduced across 900 enterprises and public institutions.

https://www.infoteria.com/en/
Visit our social profiles here: https://www.infoteria.com/jp/en/company/social/
]]> /release/201606241894 Mon, 11 Jul 2016 14:00:05 +0900 Asteria - Operational Applicability Also Verified by Connecting Blockchain Mijin on Microsoft Azure Using ASTERIA WARP - Infoteria Corporation (TSE: 3853; hereinafter "Infoteria") and Tech Bureau Corporation (hereinafter "Tech Bureau") have ... - Operational Applicability Also Verified by Connecting Blockchain Mijin on Microsoft Azure Using ASTERIA WARP -

Infoteria Corporation (TSE: 3853; hereinafter "Infoteria") and Tech Bureau Corporation (hereinafter "Tech Bureau") have successfully transferred loan and deposit account data in the main system of BC Finance, one of the largest microfinance institutions in Myanmar, to mijin (*1), the private blockchain (*2) placed on Microsoft Azure (*3) using ASTERIA WARP (*4) and mijin adapters (*5).

We hereby announce that this verifies that ASTERIA WARP and the private blockchain mijin are applicable in the operational process of microfinance and the private blockchain technology is applicable to account data recording. This is the world's first (*6) demonstration experiment that used a private blockchain in microfinance.

Glossary:
https://www.infoteria.com/jp/en/news/press/2016/07/11_01.php#1

Document:
http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M000359/201606241894/_prw_OA1fl_SyeV2n18.pdf

Process overview
We recorded all transaction history (account data) of active accounts at a branch of BC Finance (which operates a total of 19 branches in eight states) in the private blockchain mijin using ASTERIA WARP and mijin adapter. BC Finance assigned a total of three accounts, including one loan account and two savings accounts, to one customer.

Future plan
(1) We plan to carry out an experiment for concurrent and consecutive operations over a certain period of time. This is scheduled to begin in the first half of July and continue for approximately six weeks.
(2) We will consider developing an application that enables data writing and viewing from clients (terminals at each branch) to mijin.

Photo: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M000359/201606241894/_prw_OI1fl_GB14m59Z.jpg

Upcoming developments
The number of bank accounts in Myanmar is still limited to approximately two million for a population of more than 50 million, and bank services are available only to the affluent, who represent only a small portion of the population. Microfinance provides financial services such as loans and deposits to a broader segment of the population, and as such plays an important role in supporting Myanmar's economic growth. Myanmar has achieved 7-8 percent economic growth since its democratization in the spring of 2011, and in the spring of 2016, the military government came to an end, encouraging the lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. Such factors are expected to facilitate further growth, and a significant increase in the number of BC Finance customers is expected.

While the current system means rising costs of data management as the number of users grows, the introduction of the blockchain technology enables the safe and low-cost operation of account data. We expect that this will facilitate the growth of the microfinance business.

Infoteria and Tech Bureau are focusing on the promotion and penetration of blockchain technology not only in Japan, but also overseas. The two companies plan to develop this alliance on a global scale by applying the results of this experiment to other countries.

Please check the following website for more information.
The endorsements of our partners & presidents:
https://www.infoteria.com/jp/en/news/press/2016/07/11_01.php#2

Corporate profile:
https://www.infoteria.com/jp/en/news/press/2016/07/11_01.php#3

Inforteria, Asteria and Handbook are registered trademarks of Infoteria Co. Product names in the text are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
]]> /release/201402128177 Wed, 12 Feb 2014 16:00:54 +0900 Asteria - Availability on All Major Tablet & Smartphone Platforms (iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows 8.1); New BookDrop Feature Enables Customer-to-customer Marketing - Infoteria America Corporation on February 12 announced the general ... Infoteria America Corporation
Handbook 4  -  Business App for B2B Sales and Marketing Communications  - Released in US Market
- Availability on All Major Tablet & Smartphone Platforms (iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows 8.1); New BookDrop Feature Enables Customer-to-customer Marketing -
Infoteria America Corporation on February 12 announced the general availability of the company's Business App "Handbook 4" in the US market on a variety of Tablet and smartphone platforms - including iOS (iPad, iPhone), Android and Windows 8.1.
Tablet penetration and usage within the enterprise is growing at a phenomenal pace.  Several factors - such as ease-of-use, high pixel-density screens, increasing use of video, and the expanding set of options in terms of size and portability - are triggering new types of business uses - especially in the area of sales and marketing communications.  
"Well-designed business apps like Handbook 4 are helping companies harness this powerful trend," said Sachin Mithal, CEO of Infoteria America.  "In the case of Handbook 4, by empowering sales and marketing professionals with new communication, presentation, and content marketing capabilities - helping corporate marketing and sales teams reach key marketing and sales goals."
"Our customer base of more than 100,000 paid users and 500 companies worldwide confirms the high value our customers are deriving from reliable business apps," said Auri Biswas, Director of Marketing at Infoteria America.  "Business apps like Handbook are helping companies achieve specific business goals like accelerating the sales cycle, improving conversion rates, and improving customer satisfaction."
The flip side of this new power available to enterprises is the challenge of accommodating the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend i.e. employee preferences for different devices and platforms (iPads / iPhones, Android, and Windows 8.1 tablets). With the non-stop improvements and changes to these platforms, companies trying to develop in-house business apps are facing serious challenges in terms of development costs, time, and access to quality engineering and design talent.  An associated challenge is the expectation from today's departmental heads and business users of ease-of-use and productivity with minimal training or setup.  
"Handbook 4 squarely addresses these critical enterprise needs by accommodating all the major tablet & smartphone platforms." said Yoshiyuki Kitahara, CTO of Infoteria Corporation.   "Given Infoteria's core business and product strategy, we constantly monitor various platforms and deepen our knowledge of these technologies and UI / UX best practices.  We are able to add value to our customers by reinvesting that growing body of knowledge into Handbook design and development - ensuring that a variety of content published & distributed via Handbook is presented smoothly and attractively on all major devices."
The notable new enhancement in version 4 is the innovative BookDrop feature which allows impromptu sharing of Handbooks in a face-to-face setting without requiring any user account setup.  This feature helps Infoteria's customers realize the ultimate marketing goal of helping end-customers become advocates and evangelists.   Sales staff, using the Handbook App on their tablets, can not only show prospective customers attractive sales presentations and marketing collateral - but also "leave behind" some of those marketing materials on the customers'tablets & smartphones - allowing those prospects  and customers to share such materials with their friends and family.  Contemporary research indicates that this is one of the most powerful forms of marketing in terms of credibility and reach.
Other key improvements incorporated into the latest version of Handbook encompass text search, ratings & surveys, and analytics.  Plus enhancements to the enterprise-grade cloud backend that drives interoperability and fast, secure distribution.  

To help Infoteria's business customers experience the ease-of-use and power of Handbook, Infoteria America is offering a 30-day free trial (no credit card required) at https://handbookapp.net/signup/.  For more information on Handbook - its key benefits and an overview of features, please visit: http://handbookapp.net/us/


About Handbook:
Handbook is a user-friendly business app available on all major mobile platforms (iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows 8.1 tablets).  Sales and marketing professionals use the Handbook platform to create and present engaging and effective communications packages in the form of Handbooks.  A powerful cloud backend takes care of automated and nearly-instantaneous distribution of these Handbooks to specified target audience groups (such as internal sales teams or external customer groups).
In addition to the Handbook App, the Handbook platform includes a cloud-based web application called Handbook Studio.  Handbook Studio allows users to create Handbooks quickly and easily - by combining a variety of existing source materials - such as videos, images, PDFs, presentations, MS-Office documents, price lists / spreadsheets - with drag-and-drop ease from their local file system or a cloud storage service (like Google Docs or Dropbox).  
One major business advantage of Handbook is that it does not require any special IT investment other than a low monthly subscription (cancellable any time).  Plans start from as low as $6 per user per month.  Volume discounted pricing is available for enterprises with higher numbers of users.  More information on plans and pricing are available at http://handbookapp.net/us/pricing/
In terms of learning curve, both Handbook App and Handbook Studio have been designed to allow users to become productive with minimal effort and time.  Infoteria estimates 3 minutes for a Reader role (those who use the Handbook App on their tablets and smartphones to browse the distributed Handbooks); and about 15 minutes for the Editor role (those who put together the Handbooks).  

About Infoteria America Corporation and Group:
Infoteria America Corporation is the US subsidiary of Infoteria Corporation, which is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Infoteria Corporation is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 3853.
Founded in 1998 as an innovative software product company, Infoteria went public in 2007. Infoteria's middleware product Asteria has 47% market share in Japan.  Infoteria's Handbook product has maintained market leadership in the mobile content management space in Japan for over 2 years now with over 38% market share.    
To learn more about Infoteria America, please visit: www.infoteria.com/en/
]]> /release/201205074201 Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:24 +0900 Asteria Infoteria Corporation announced on May 8 to launch the Android app version of its popular free online sticky note sharing service "lino". The app is currently in beta release, and ... TOKYO, May 8/KYODO JBN/--
Infoteria Corporation announced on May 8 to launch the Android app version of its popular free online sticky note sharing service "lino". The app is currently in beta release, and is available for download from Google Play.

"lino" is a cloud-based service that provides an online canvas to post and share electronic sticky note, photos, movies and files. The service is popular not only among Japanese users, but also in more than 100 foreign countries including the U.S. Overseas users now account for over 70% of all users.

The service has already been available for PC, iPhone and iPad, and now widely available for Android smartphones and tablets.

With the Android app, user can intuitively handle, double-tap, or pinch stickies and the canvas on screen. "lino" is fun to use in various scenes of life, such as posting an idea conceived while on the go through a smartphone, laying out stickies on the canvas with a PC at home, and sharing photos and movies of an event among friends.

* App name: lino
* Google Play URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linoit.lino
* Price: Free
* Screen shot: http://blog.linoit.com/en/2012/05/07/android-app/

About Infoteria Corporation
Infoteria Corporation was founded in 1998 as the first software company in Japan dedicated to XML. Infoteria develops and markets software and services which connect various corporate computers and devices. The company's flagship software product is "ASTERIA," which federates a variety of computer systems of different makes without any additional programming. It has been introduced by more than 2,700 corporations (as of the end of December 2011), primarily large and medium-sized firms. Moreover, the company's "Handbook," a cloud-based service which distributes digital documents stored on a PC to iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets, is employed by many advanced corporate and public users as a standard tool for their employees to carry business documents such as sales materials, product brochures and meeting reports.
To learn more about Infoteria, please visit http://www.infoteria.com/en/

About lino
"lino" is a cloud-based service to provide the canvas to post stickies and photos, offered free of charge to users through PC browsers and iPhone, iPad and Android apps. As with temporarily attaching notes with an adhesive strip on one side, "lino" makes it possible to attach memos, tasks, photos, videos and computer files to the canvas so that members of a group can share them later. "lino" supports Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean languages and is used worldwide. *Note: Currently, "lino" apps for iPhone, iPad and Android are only available in Japanese and English.
To learn more about lino, please visit http://en.linoit.com/

* Infoteria is the trademark of Infoteria Corporation.
* Handbook and ASTERIA are the registered trademarks of Infoteria.
* Android and Google Play are the registered trademarks of Google Inc.
* Product names which appear in this release are the trademarks and registered trademarks of respective companies.
Source:
  Infoteria Corporation
[Related URL]
http://www.infoteria.com/jp/index.jsp
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