Here is the daily roundup from Japanese consumer tech and tech business websites for Nov. 25, 2014.

NEC to offer repair services after recent earthquake

NEC (TYO: 6701) will be offering discounted repair and restructuring services to consumer tech users who were affected by the recent earthquake at Nagano prefecture.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit the area of Nagano prefecture last Satuday, November 22. While the area’s power grid was unaffected, the earthquake did cause considerable damage to property and infrastructure, which included business institutions and residential homes. NEC offers its services mainly to users in these areas, listing server systems, PCs and a number of mobile devices as eligible items for the repair and restructuring service.

As for eligible users, they will be announced and listed by the Cabinet Office, and the service will be given to them at a 30% discount, regardless of the item or device’s warranty period. The service started last November 22, and will end on May 31, 2015. Complete details for the service are available at the NEC’s official website.

Pioneer provides tablets to middle and elementary schools

Pioneer VC initiated a project that will provide tablets to middle and elementary schools at Kusatsu City in Shiga prefecture. The project’s main goal is to distribute a minimum of at least 3,200 tablet units, using the tablet’s custom educational software to help boost the schools’ teaching programs.

Middle and elementary schools in Kusatsu City have already adopted a variety of different electronic and computer based education systems, however this is the first time that tablets will be used for these institutions. xSync would play a vital role in meshing the custom tablets with the schools’ other data systems, to provide interconnectivity, instant data availability, and to reinforce the overall efficiency of the program.

Aside from tablets, the company will also propose a number of collaborative learning systems to optimize the use of the tablets within each school’s education system. The project was initiated last September this year, and the company now plans to integrate the tablets further into the school’s education system.

Philips introduces next generation home healthcare solutions

Philips has just announced its development of a new home-based healthcare system, which is focused on providing active monitoring for outpatients, and for patients who opt to stay at home during long term treatment.

First revealed at a press conference last end of October, the system was elaborated further recently. It is generally described as an interconnected system that combines telepresence, professional medical attention, nursing care, electronic monitoring and healthcare coordination. This “Hospital to Home” concept takes the idea of comfort using various modern telecommunications technologies. Patients that are instead sent home with the new healthcare system, rather than being forced to stay at a medical institution are expected to recover better.

No announcements of the system’s availability soon, though the company is now currently planning on temporarily implementing it as an emergency service for specific patients.

The post Earthquake Service, School Tablets, Home Healthcare: The Headlines in Tokyo for Nov. 25 appeared first on VR World.

We all know Japan’s long term relationship with earthquakes, as well as the constant threat of Mother Nature’s ruthless destruction in this North East Asian archipelago. Its vigilant citizens always know that at any time, any natural calamity or disaster could have rippling effects over any of their technology-based infrastructure.

NTT DoCoMo (TYO:9437), sensing the urgent need to address this problem further as telecom networks become increasingly advanced, laid out the foundation of what the company considers as its latest anti-earthquake preparation strategy. In a press conference that was held earlier this week, NTT Docomo Kansai branch introduced the concept using “wide zone type” base stations, as well as a zoning system that would allow the entire telecommunications network to quickly change or alter broadcast signals to compensate for areas that will be affected by any natural calamity.

The new wide zone type base stations will be used in tandem with certain default base stations to maximize coverage. These base stations are selected based on their decreased susceptibility to severe seismic activity. By modifying these base stations so that they could change its broadcast direction during emergencies, a larger area can be covered, and thus the network could be kept intact even other nearby base stations are put out of operation.

All in all, there will be a total of 104 base stations around the country that would be modified and tested for the new system. The entire Kansai region has 14 of these base stations, which are already strategically selected based on the previously mentioned criteria.

In addition to boosting the redundancy and reliability of base stations around the country, the company also plans to deploy mobile base stations, which would use both microwave and satellite transmission systems to patch any broken network system. The IPSTAR satellite, which proved very useful during the 2011 Touhoku earthquake disaster, will be redeployed again as an emergency telecommunications medium for the emergency service. This part of the initiative would even include the use of millimeter wavelength frequencies, since the base stations can be moved easily to be redirected straight onto any receiving network.

Lastly, NTT Docomo also plans to prepare for any natural calamity that will be caused (sooner or later) by the Nankai Trough, a deep submarine trough located off the south western coast of the Honshu mainland. Additional modifications to the original strategy might be done depending on the result of the analysis and simulation tests of the area.

The post NTT Docomo Lays Out Japan’s Future Quake-Proof Telecom Network appeared first on VR World.