The Japanese major is not trying to fool anybody, but on April 1, NEC Corp says, it will form a new venture called Telemidic Ltd, which will focus on sales and development of networking technology for musicians, based on the MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface communications protocol. Up to now, most of NEC’s multimedia involvement has been with graphics and three dimensional chips. The venture will be even more undercapitalized than are most Japanese companies, with just $80,000 of equity. It will be 70% owned by NEC and is aiming at the fairly modest target of $500,000 sales in the first year, rising to $1.7m by the third year. The first offering from the new company will be TeleMidi, which enables musicians to establish realtime networks via telephone lines between various remote locations, such as their homes and a studio. The Telemidic venture will also develop and market products for TeleMidi networks, including electronic musical instruments. There was no word on who gets the other 30% – principals of the new firm, presumably.
