Company Overview
2. History
Ubiquitous AI <3858> was founded in May 2001 as Ubiquitous with the aim of providing a comfortable life where anyone, anywhere, anytime can enjoy the convenience of the Ubiquitous network without any hassle. The company believed that, with the evolution of ubiquitous networking, everything in daily life such as mobile phones, household appliances, gaming devices, AV equipment, and automobiles would be controlled by networked computers. One of the founders, Hitoshi Suzuki (former CTO of the company: Chief Technical Officer) is a genius programmer who has an anecdote of winning a programming challenge against Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
In November of the same year, they developed their main product, "Ubiquitous TCP/IP." This product is an optimal design for embedded devices such as car devices, medical devices, and industrial devices to implement Internet communication protocols, TCP/IP, in a "small" way with minimal memory usage, "lightness" to operate on low-powered CPUs, and "speed" to communicate efficiently. With this product, developers can connect embedded devices to the Internet and communicate data. In August 2002, "Ubiquitous TCP/IP" and "Ubiquitous SSL (protocol for encrypting and transmitting data over the Internet)" were adopted as communication libraries for the Nintendo DS, and the company signed a software license agreement with Nintendo <7974>. In August 2008, the cumulative shipping license number for "Ubiquitous TCP/IP" exceeded 100 million, and the middleware "Ubiquitous Network Framework" for implementing communication functions also exceeded 200 million in September 2010.
In March 2010, they started selling their main product, "Ubiquitous QuickBoot." This solution enables highly functional devices such as digital home appliances and in-car information terminals to instantly power on without compromising the user's operability. In April 2023, they achieved a cumulative license number of 70 million, and in March 2024, they achieved a cumulative total of 80 million, selling nearly 10 million in a year, making it one of the company's most prominent products. There is a high demand for their products in the field of in-vehicle systems, such as car navigation systems, display audio, and drive recorders, and they have shipped many units domestically and internationally, including in JVC Kenwood <6632> and Denso Ten's AV navigation systems.
The company has released many self-developed software products related to networks, databases, and security, but in April 2016, they 100% acquired AIM, an independent software development company that has been contracted to develop embedded firmware since its establishment in 1987, with the aim of expanding sales of their own products by strengthening contracted development capabilities. AIM provides total engineering services from system proposal, development and implementation to operation and maintenance of equipment and systems tailored to the needs of customers, particularly in the fields of music-related technologies, car navigation systems, and AV equipment product development. They also operate a unique Japanese CDDB (Compact Disk DataBase), which stores information such as performers and production years of music, and provide content and services such as the Furigana data "YOMI" for album names, song titles, artist names configured by nicknames, abbreviations, and incorrect readings. Additionally, they have worked on the development of embedded control systems for devices centered around car navigation as an official development partner of Gracenote, as well as the integration of Gracenote products into devices and customer software development.
In April 2017, with the aim of expanding the product lineup and strengthening the project acquisition system, Ubiquitous AI Corporation, a professional trading company that has handled overseas embedded software vendor products since its establishment in 1985, was fully owned. Then, in July 2018, the two companies further collaborated, and to accelerate and strengthen the creation of synergies through joint development with overseas partner companies and sales activities of proprietary products overseas through partners, absorbed and merged Ubiquitous AI Corporation and changed its name to Ubiquitous AI Corporation. Ubiquitous AI Corporation as a professional importer of equipment-embedded software, has licensed software sales as an agency for over 30 top makers from around the world, including middleware in various fields such as networks, connectivity, storage, various kinds of software in the quality improvement support and testing tool, carrier-grade fields, UEFI-BIOS and unique start-up companies with cutting-edge technology. In addition, we have focused on providing high added value through transplantation and customization tailored to a wide range of customer needs in fields such as automotive, consumer, communication, and industrial equipment, not only sales and support of these product groups.
Through the consolidation of the two aforementioned companies from 2016 to 2018, the company has established a business foundation that can respond to all elements of the development process, from planning and development of customer products to design, development, implementation, and improvement, verification, and support of software. Revenue grew rapidly from 970 million yen in fiscal year March 2016 to 2,406 million yen in fiscal year March 2019. In April 2022, it was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Standard Market with the market change, and the company name was changed to Ubiquitous AI in July of the same year.
In April 2023, it acquired Light Stone for the purpose of expanding its business area for the next growth stage. Established in March 1995, Light Stone is a specialized trading company that handles software products from overseas software vendors, and has many users at educational institutions such as universities and colleges of technology, government research institutes, and corporate research and survey departments, mainly for statistical and numerical data analysis used in research and development, such as "Origin" and "Stata". As a result, it created new revenue opportunities through acquiring new customers and enhancing cross-selling of some products by acquiring a new portfolio of software products necessary for R&D and acquiring new sales channels.
In October 2023, it also acquired Grape System. Grape System, established in July 1991, had already formed a capital and business alliance with the company in March 2022 by acquiring some of its shares. Both companies develop and sell software required for embedded equipment development and provide commissioned development. The company believed that there was a possibility of expanding business synergies through the strengthening of business cooperation by utilizing Grape System's commissioned development capabilities centered on embedded equipment and combining it with the company's diverse and rich product lineup. Thus, it became a wholly-owned subsidiary in October 2023.
In August 2024, it will merge with AIM. The aim is to deepen cooperation, including the exchange of human resources, and strengthen development capabilities. Prior to this, it will integrate the head office of AIM and Grape System. It plans to further promote cooperation in personnel and business, and further strengthen development capabilities.
(Written by FISCO Guest Analyst Akira Matsumoto)