Hitachi provides network systems and the box. Plus, Java allows information to be automatically upgraded and additions to applications to be made on-demand on the network. The set-top boxes running the JavaOS already are in place in the Japanese education system.
Students take classes by way of their televisions.
They can even transfer their homework via modem back to the instructors at the school. This is extremely advantageous to students who live in remote locations, far from these preparatory institutions. Agriculture is another area in which this system now is in use. For farmers, access to information like weather forecasts and the commodity prices market is crucial to their livelihood. With the Hitachi set-top boxes and Java software in their homes, farmers have access to sophisticated and vitally important data literally at their fingertips.