Philips NV is stomping the globe in search of partners to ensure that it maintains its lead in optical disk technology and applications, and the latest to succumb to its blandishments is Toppan Printing Co of Japan, which has agreed a 50-50 joint venture with Philips on Compact Disk Interactive Systems: the venture, to be called Denshi Media Services KK will own and operate studios for would-be publishers, software developers and information providers to create applications.