Toshiba 1998 Annual Report Download - page 11

Toshiba Corporation Annual Report 1998 9.
players an d ultra-thin DVD-ROM drives. Plans call for a
m ultifaceted approach, in cluding DVD disc production ,
DVD software rentals and other busin esses. Currently
th e leading mem ber of the DVD Forum , Toshiba is
prom oting the developm en t and im plem en tation of
industry stan dards.
INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS AND
CONTROL SYSTEMS
Three key them es are definin g m arkets for com puter an d
network equipm ent: open systems, networks and m obility.
In th is environmen t, Toshiba is developing servers and
routers that can com pete anywhere in the world.
With PC server deman d risin g, Toshiba is boosting th e
fun ctions of its h ighly reliable GS series. Sales volum e
growth has outpaced the m arket as a whole. In th e Cell
Switch Router (CSR) sector, Tosh iba form ed an alliance
with Cisco Sytem s, Inc. of the U.S. with th e aim of creat-
ing a global de-facto stan dard. The first products have
gon e on sale an d n ew m odels are being in troduced. In
Japan, Tosh iba has supplied CSR tech n ology to Fujikura
Ltd., The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and Hitach i, Ltd.
Toshiba h as also invested in In n ovate Networks Corp.,
which was establish ed to prom ote CSR in th e U.S.
In com puter system s, Tosh iba is building skills in creat-
ing a total solution service built aroun d system proposals
an d consultin g, all linked to com puter networking equip-
m en t. Sales of such services are growing to a diverse ran ge
of users, in cluding the public sector, retailin g, financial
services and m anufacturin g.
In th e com m un ication s eq uipm en t sector, Tosh iba
received an order for a large-scale, integrated disaster in for-
m ation system for Japan ’s Fukui Prefecture. However, wh ile
m obile ph one sales were h igher overseas, a reversal in do-
m estic dem and for cellular telephon es an d person al han dy-
phone system s m eant slower growth in th is sector. Total
com m un ication s equipm en t sales decreased as a result.
Results in laborsaving equipm en t were favorable.
Perform ance was backed by a large sale of autom atic fare
collection gates for th e Shin kansen lin es of Cen tral Japan
Railway Com pany and letter sorting m ach in es for Japan’s
new postal system .
Although aerospace developm ent sales were low, space
station m odules were sold to Japan ’s Nation al Space Devel-
opm ent Agency. Participation in the com m ercial satellite
field has added a secon d core busin ess to the com pan y’s
aerospace sector. Tosh iba h as con cluded a con tract with
th e U.S.’s Skybridge LP Corp. to in vest in th e $3.5 billion
Skybridge Project led by Fran ce’s Alcatel Espace.
In electronic com m erce, Tosh iba is participating with
Visa In ternation al as co-m anager in “Sm art Com m erce
Japan,” an experim en tal electronic trading project spon-
sored by Japan ’s Ministry of In ternation al Trade an d
In dustry. In October 1997, a trial took place in Kobe using
credit-based IC electron ic m on ey cards th at could be used
in stores and on the In tern et. Toshiba is supplying the
system s, IC cards and term inals for replen ishin g electronic
m on ey, am on g other items.
MEDICAL SYSTEMS
Despite difficult m arket con dition s, Tosh iba leveraged its
leadin g-edge digital im age processin g technology to create
products with outstandin g cost-perform ance characteristics.
This busin ess was thus able to achieve high er sales. In
addition to m edical equipm en t, Tosh iba is targeting hos-
pital in form ation systems for growth . Orders are increas-
ing for total h ospital information system s em bracin g
ordering, accounting, tests an d nursin g.
Capable of processing up to four tickets at once,
Toshiba’s automatic fare collection gates are raising
productivity at 16 stations along the Shinkansen
(bullet train) line between Tokyo and Osaka.
Xpress/SX, a CT scanner with
Aspire CI, has a “ SureStart” func-
tion to automatically initiate scan-
ning at optimal timing for contrast
enhancement. Scanned data can
be reconstructed in real time at a
speed of 8 frames per second.
Information & Communication Systems