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  6. IIJ delivers the live "Spring Festival in Tokyo" concert to public audiences with "HEVC/H.265 over MPEG-DASH" streaming technology

IIJ delivers the live "Spring Festival in Tokyo" concert to public audiences with "HEVC/H.265 over MPEG-DASH" streaming technology

The world's largest showcases of high-quality delivery to multi devices by next-gen video compression technology and delivery standard

March 10, 2014

TOKYO-March 10, 2014-Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ, NASDAQ: IIJI, TSE1: 3774), one of Japan's leading Internet access and comprehensive network solutions providers, today announced the March 23, 2014, live stream of Tokyo-HARUSAI Marathon Concert vol.4 The Life of Richard Strauss - Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, supported by IIJ. The live stream, using advanced HEVC/H.265 over MPEG-DASH video technology, will be the biggest and advanced event of its kind ever for a general audience. This broadcast can be viewed using any of the three methods below.

Broadcast site URL: http://www.harusailive.jp/ (Japanese text only)
Broadcast date/time: Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 15:00-20:00 JST (approximately)
Title: Spring Festival in Tokyo
Tokyo-HARUSAI Marathon Concert vol.4
The Life of Richard Strauss
- Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth
  • 3rd part: A talented young composer who became a hero of the times
  • 4th part: As an opera composer
  • 5th part: Last songs - the end of good old Europe
Broadcast methods:
  • Method 1: HEVC/H.265 over MPEG-DASH (DivX Live)
  • Method 2: acTVila/Live
  • Method 3: IIJ Contents Delivery Service Multi Device Streaming/Live

Method 1: HEVC/H.265 over MPEG-DASH (DivX Live)

- Newest technology for live broadcasts

This live stream makes use of the newest adaptive streaming protocol, MPEG-DASH, plus H.265 (high-efficiency video coding / HEVC), which is the new standard instead of the predecessor H.264 video compression. H.265 delivers the same high-quality images as H.264, but at bit rates requiring up to 50% less network capacity in streaming and playback. This higher compression delivers high-quality images even in congested network environments, allowing more people to enjoy the broadcast at the same time. For its part, MPEG-DASH is garnering attention as a multi-device streaming standard, delivering video to all types of audience devices: smartphones, tablets, computers, and others. The March broadcast is accessible from both Windows and Mac operating systems.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA), in January 2014, Rovi Corp. subsidiary DivX LLC (of San Diego, California) and Elemental Technologies, Inc. (of Portland, Oregon) conducted a demonstration of HEVC/H.265 over MPEG-DASH live streaming, but the IIJ event is among the largest of its kind ever attempted for a general public audience.

DivX and Elemental provide technical support to IIJ for the broadcast. DivX provides DivX Live profiles compliant with MPEG-DASH, as well as DivX Web Player software for Windows and Mac. Elemental provides the Elemental® Live real-time encoder for HEVC/H.265.

Method 2: acTVila/Live

- High-quality live video for home TVs

acTVila-an Internet service for movies, TV dramas, and other content- also live stream the March concert. People are able to watch the high-quality live broadcast on big-screen TVs at home just by connecting an acTVila-compatible broadband device. acTVila also offers technical assistance for the March broadcast. IIJ has been providing acTVila's video streaming platform since 2007. For more information on acTVila's services, see http://actvila.jp/ (Japanese text only).

Method 3: IIJ Contents Delivery Service Multi Device Streaming/Live

- Enjoy live streaming anywhere, on a broad array of devices

IIJ live streams the event via the large-scale content broadcast service for multi-device streaming (live) it initiated in February 2014. This service connects directly to IIJ's Internet backbone to provide streaming at 100Gbps-among the best in Japan-for reliable delivery of live-stream content to Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, and Wii U devices.

IIJ plans to use the expertise it gains through this experience to improve its service development process in the future.

Two companies involved have endorsed this IIJ announcement.

Elemental Technologies Inc.

We congratulate the IIJ in their visionary use of advanced HEVC and MPEG-DASH delivery technologies and standards for live streaming. We are thrilled to support this effort -- and to join IIJ in the global celebration of an equally visionary musical pioneer, Richard Strauss.

Dan Marshall
Senior VP, Worldwide Sales and Service, Elemental

DivX LLC

This is a significant milestone for DivX as we continue to drive and power the creation, delivery and multiscreen playback of next-generation video including 4K. We are proud to be associated with this tremendous event and to team with IIJ to introduce the market to DivX Live, an important technology and new tool in service provider's arsenal to help them embrace the new compression standard and enable the playback of HEVC across multiple devices.

Dr. Kanaan Jemili
Senior VP, Product Management, Rovi Corporation

Spring Festival in Tokyo - Tokyo Opera Nomori 2014 -

  • Dates: March 14 (Fri) - April 13 (Sun), 2014

Since Meiji, Ueno Park has embodied culture and art in Japan. The Spring Festival in Tokyo lasts a full month, with the beauty of cherry blossoms surrounding the Ueno Park stage. This music festival began as Tokyo Opera Nomori in 2005 which offered premiere performances of new production operas, it has been known as the Spring Festival in Tokyo since its fifth year in 2009. In the "Wagner Series" at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, top artists from Japan and around the world will perform. There will also be museum concerts in several of Ueno Park's museums. Altogether there will be about 100 performances, some of them outside in the park, and some of them free. It is now a seasonal tradition in Ueno.

About IIJ

Founded in 1992, Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ, NASDAQ: IIJI, Tokyo Stock Exchange TSE1: 3774) is one of Japan's leading Internet-access and comprehensive network solutions providers. IIJ and its group companies provide total network solutions that mainly cater to high-end corporate customers. IIJ's services include high-quality systems integration, cloud computing/data center services, security services, and Internet access. Moreover, IIJ has built one of the largest Internet backbone networks in Japan that is connected the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. IIJ was listed on NASDAQ in 1999 and on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2006. For more information about IIJ, visit the IIJ Web site at http://www.iij.ad.jp/en/.

The statements within this release contain forward-looking statements about our future plans that involve risk and uncertainty. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents furnished by Internet Initiative Japan Inc. with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports on Forms 20-F and 6-K, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

For inquiries, contact

IIJ Corporate Communications

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