IIJ and ACCESS Announce Dissolution of Joint Venture of SDN Business

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TOKYO-May 29, 2015-Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ) and ACCESS CO., LTD. (ACCESS) today announced they have agreed to constructively dissolve Stratosphere Inc. (Stratosphere), a joint venture established by the two companies to conduct R&D on infrastructure software based on software defined networking (SDN) technology.
The companies plan to dissolve the joint venture on July 1, 2015.

Background

Stratosphere was established in April 2012 with the goal of researching and developing software to build an ideal platform for the next-generation cloud computing environment. Since its founding, Stratosphere continued to develop software products to make SDN a reality. The company created a market for SDN in Japan and promoted its use by launching products such as "Stratosphere SDN Platform (SSP)" network virtualization platform for telecom carriers in October 2012, and "OmniSphere" SDN solution for building virtual office networks in August 2013.

IIJ and ACCESS have both benefited from the research and development Stratosphere has conducted until now and, having reached the stage where both companies can make use of the software products and technical findings developed by Stratosphere for each company's services and solutions, IIJ and ACCESS have now agreed to dissolve the joint venture.

Future business operations

IIJ and ACCESS will both take over Stratosphere's business via a business transfer. The business transfer is scheduled to take place on July 1, 2015, after which the companies plan to terminate the Stratosphere joint venture.

IIJ will integrate SSP and OmniSphere technologies into its service infrastructure to make infrastructure building in cloud service and network service management more efficient and advanced, and will continue to develop new solutions that take advantage of SDN technology.

ACCESS will build upon the results of the Stratosphere business, and will continue to develop the world's most advanced network virtualization software solutions through IP Infusion Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary located in California, USA.

Stratosphere Corporate Outline

Name	Stratosphere Inc.
Established	April 5, 2012
Capital	JPY 100 million
Representative	Toshiya Asaba, Representative Director and President
Shareholders	IIJ 50.0%, ACCESS 50.0%
Business	Research and development of infrastructure software that centrally controls a cloud computing environment
Employees	9 (transferred from both IIJ and ACCESS)
Address	Fujimi 2-10-2, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

• (*) "ACESSS" and the ACCESS logo are the registered trademark and service mark of ACCESS CO., LTD. in Japan, the U.S., and other countries.

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

• +81-3-5205-6310
• +81-3-5205-6377
• press@iij.ad.jp

ACCESS CO., LTD. Corporate Communications

• +81-43-212-2230
• prinfo-gr@access-company.com
• http://www.access-company.com/