ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Four technology companies have joined the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, including two major Japanese tech firms, AWARN announced today.
New members include T-NET Japan, an engineering company developing technology for use worldwide; Internet Initiative Japan, a global provider of network services, value-added outsourcing services, cloud computing, WAN services and systems integration services; Unisoft, which offers ATSC 3.0 delivery systems; and Gaian Solutions, which specializes in operating AI- and ML-based content monetization.
“Our new members bring years of experience in advanced television, as well as the integration of over-the-air television and the internet,” said John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance. “Our new Japanese members also bring firsthand 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.”
The AWARN membership announcement comes on the heels of Fox Television Stations’ decision last month to join the alliance, becoming the first major broadcast network to enlist.
“We see great potential for ATSC 3.0 interoperability with the world’s other key technical standards, such as W3C, 3GPP and Hybridcast,” said Yoshi Tsurimaki, producer, business development at T-NET Japan.
The AWARN Alliance has expanded its mission from a focus exclusively on the use of 3.0’s Advanced Emergency Alerting to enable broadcasters and emergency managers to warn the public of imminent danger to a broader use of AEA to help TV broadcasters better serve the public with emergency-related information.
To that end, the alliance also will launch roundtable discussions with TV news thought leaders over the next few months aimed at developing a voluntary framework for packaging a TV station’s news assets and using 3.0 to engage viewers across multiple devices, it said.
