NTT DoCoMo will form a joint venture company, Avex Broadcasting & Communications, with Avex Entertainment (AEI), a subsidiary of Avex Group, for the production and on-demand distribution of video content packaged for the mobile phone environment.

The company is scheduled to begin operating in March 2009 with capital of 3.5 billion yen and capital reserves of 3.5 billion yen, 30 per cent from DoCoMo and 70 per cent from AEI.

AEI is a part of the Avex Group, a Japanese music and movie entertainment company, with operations involving the production, packaging, sale/distribution (including web) and rights management of music and visual content in Japan and other Asian markets.

Unlike most mobile-content companies that distribute video works which were originally developed for movie theatres and DVD systems, the new company will produce and distribute content developed specifically for the small screens of mobile phones, giving special consideration to scripting, editing, photography, etc. tailored for the mobile phone environment.

As written in the article that is on DMasia.com, the alliance between digital contents holder and mobile or digital media is significantly popular in the business world. Apple’s iTunes that is online music provider and mobile devise such as iPhone made some big impacts. AT&T provide network infrastructure that distributes digital contents of Apple. The combination between Apple and AT&T, they made huge profit on digital contents such as application, Gadget and music or movie, and most of iPhone users enjoy its contents. Distributions of digital contents getting diverse through online.

WB Strikes Online Distribution Deals
By Sergio
Published: June 12, 2008

Warner Bros. Television Group has signed distribution deals with DailyMotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo and Veoh Networks for the studio’s TheWB.com and KidsWB.com properties, TVWeek.com reports. Each site will feature programming from each property’s heyday. Distribution through partner sites will go into effect in September.
-Sergio Ibarra

Related link
 http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/06/thewb…

Warner Bros. Television group create new digital distribution strategy with the alliance of DailyMotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo and Veoh Networks. WB’s contents provide from the middle of september 2008. The new distribution partners will offer full-length programming from The WB with advertisements. In addition, WB provide new online only program. They will have both past consents and current programs and each contents will have advertisements. Since TV will go online and digital contents holder such as Youtube and iTunes, they need to create distribution channels not only TV but also online.

Data Control
An Activant Industry Expert Article
 http://distribution.activant.com/press/d…
Industrial Distribution, February 2008

Investing in a state-of-the-art ERP system gives you the finest tools available to reach several important goals: streamlining operations, more effectively serving customers and growing profits.
One way a new system helps achieve these goals is automating purchasing, which can help increase inventory turns and improve service levels. But without the basic procedures to give accurate inventory counts, even the most advanced ERP purchase won’t take you any closer to achieving these objectives. In effect, you’ll be preventing yourself from realizing the greatest potential return on your investment.

Most distributors looking to automate purchasing are very conscientious about learning the details of their new system. Once they understand the calculations, they automate their purchasing and everything goes smoothly-at first. Then it happens: The warehouse goes to pull an order, only to find the item is out of stock and there are none on order.
The problem here is not the system-the system is given information and performs mathematical calculations. In the scenario above, there should be 100 pieces in stock. But a system is only as good as the information it’s given.

Think of how you purchase gas for your car. You have an order point (OP) and order quantity (OQ)-for some, it’s, “Fill it up when it hits 1/4 tank;” for others, it might be, “Put in $30 worth when it hits 1/8 of a tank.”

Whatever your OP/OQ “settings,” you are relying on an accurate measure of the quantity on hand; that is, a reliable gas gauge. If the gauge is not accurate, what good is it? On-hand counts are the “gas gauge” of your business.
In the case above, the system indicates that OP/OQ looks fine: It is set to reorder at 75 to maintain a stocking level of 100. But when the purchasing department examines the problem, the cause becomes clear: The computer “sez we got” 100 in stock, though there are no items on the shelves or re-ordered.

All the fancy calculations go up in smoke when inventory accuracy is out of whack. This can be caused by a number of problems, but they all fall into two categories: Poor physical inventory control or bogus information being entered into the system.

Here are some signs that poor inventory control has become part of your day-to-day operations:
“The computer sez we got…” If this phrase regularly rolls off the tongue of your staff, it’s a strong indication that they have little faith in the the system’s accuracy.

“Has anyone seen…?” Order pickers wandering the warehouse, gazing at the shelves and asking this question is another sign of problems with your inventory count.
Oversized, overflowing customer return area. Inventory should be processed through the return area, not stocked there until someone takes the initiative to clean it up.

Frequent adjustments for missing stock at shipping time. If it has become part of your normal process to make adjustments for missing inventory when shipping, you have problems with inventory counts.
Non-warehouse personnel pulling stock. Management or salespeople pulling product from the warehouse shelves is another red flag indicating a problem.

If your business displays any of these symptoms, you need to address them. Start by implementing procedures to get proper physical control of your inventory. This must be a core competency if you hope to maximize the return on your ERP investment.

The one of US largest ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) application vender, Activant has variety of software to manage the distribution channel. Internet-base distribution information tracking getting common and due to raising of oil price, inefficient resource management tends to be serious risk.

 http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20081…

“Ours is the first time that 100GbE service is going over one 100gig wavelength.”   This is mean fast advanced technology. 

Check out internetnews.com

 http://www.bevnet.com/news/2008/10-13-20…

This article is about PESPI thinking of undergoing a relaunch of their brand and packaging to bring “NEW LIFE” to their tagline. They are also redesigning their global globe logo as a smile. This happened because of a decrease in sale.

The goverment wants ikea to track where the wood they use for furniture comes from. Ikea says it is unrealistic and keeping track of everything would be impossible and expensive.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/blockbusters-big-gulp-of-technology/

apple will dominate the phone market with the help of walmart, this means more reach, more affordable phones targeted to young people.

companies like ZARA and IKEA have taken advantage of their supply chain to have their competitive advantage. ZARA is able to get products to the market while they are trendy even though they cost more to produce, they sell more. IKEA can save money on unassembled furniture when transporting it and this savings are pass to the end consumers.

This article talks about how YouTube has finally enabled HD uploading to your wisecrack videos. This is different than their previous “high quality” upload version. The picture is less grainy and much sharper.

This gives YouTube a better way to distribute their product to all 344 million unique visitors a month. Whoa.

Non-HD

HD

What’s next? YouTube in BluRay?

Read full article here

Netflix business model is online, and blockbuster is just entering field. Blockbuster relies rentals from there brick-and-mortar stores, while Netflix relies online rentals. Netflix has several source for distribution, stream directly on pc for no additional fees, deliver to home, download and stream on tv via Xbox 360 and TiVo.

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/11/blockbuster_and_1.html