E Ink announces ITOCHU Corporation joins the E Ink ePaper ecosystem
E Ink (Billerica, Massachusetts), a pioneer, and global commercial leader in digital paper technology, recently announced that ITOCHU Corporation, a leading global trading company, has joined its ePaper ecosystem for the expansion of applications using electronic paper in Japan and worldwide.
With 400 million electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and 130 million eReaders in the market, and ePaper bus stop signs installed in more than 50 cities globally, E Ink’s electronic paper, with its extremely low power consumption, can help cities improve the environment and achieve their carbon neutral goals. ITOCHU has a corporate strategy to conduct business under sustainable development goal (SDG) mandates, and believes that E Ink’s ePaper technology aligns closely with this corporate direction.
Through their alliance, ITOCHU’s first ePaper project is their own branded eNote device, based off the product developed by Linfiny, a joint development between E Ink and Sony Semiconductor Solutions. ITOCHU will leverage their domestic and overseas networks, and plan to sell the eNote device through their sales channels. Linfiny has created a powerful eNote device for use in schools, governments and corporations and enable select partners to whitebox and rebrand the device as needed.
“We are excited for our partnership with ITOCHU,” stated Naoki Sumita, president, E Ink Japan. “This relationship will allow products featuring E Ink’s ePaper to reach a larger audience in Japan, and worldwide. We are particularly excited to see our ePaper technology bring benefits to both offices and schools and to many new applications in the future.”
“The market of ePaper will rapidly grow in the coming years,” said Hiroshi Kajiwara, ICT Division COO, ITOCHU. “We hope to see a future filled with ePaper in stores and in our daily lives.”
Electronic notebooks, or eNotes, with E Ink’s display technology, offer customers a similar writing experience as that of writing on paper, in addition to being lightweight and easy to carry. In addition, the reflective technology works off the same premise as paper, reducing eye-strain to the device user. In November, E Ink was awarded the “Paper-Like Certification” from TÜV Rheinland, certifying that ePaper products offer a high level or reading and visual comfort.
eNotes using E Ink have a battery life measured in weeks, versus the hours of an LCD-based tablet, and allow organisations to use these devices to manage and digitise handwritten documents in the cloud, and to enable new opportunities in the education market. Using the technology can help organisations reach their net-zero goals by saving electricity, and by reducing their paper usage in note taking and paper printing within an office and school.
Caption: ePaper, a sustainable display solution, aligns companies in vision of SDGs (photo: E Ink/ITOCHU)