What Force Media does

Force Media (ForceMedia, Inc.) is a Tokyo-based value-added IT distributor and wholly-owned subsidiary of the ELECOM Group, founded in 2010. The company holds authorized distribution rights in Japan for three global brands: QNAP Systems (Taiwan) for network-attached storage, Newline Interactive (USA) for enterprise collaboration displays, and VIVOTEK for IP surveillance cameras (partnered with DX Antenna). Its portfolio spans enterprise 30-bay ZFS NAS systems, SMB and SOHO storage devices, Thunderbolt 4 NASbooks, network switches, interactive touchscreens, and subscription-based surveillance software (QVR Elite at $1.99/channel/month), supported by pre-sales consultation and post-sales maintenance service plans.

The company generates revenue primarily through one-time hardware sales via direct inquiry and a domestic authorized reseller network, with secondary recurring revenue from QVR Elite subscriptions and maintenance service contracts (advance replacement and on-site support). Its customer base is horizontally segmented across enterprise/workgroup buyers, small office/home office users, and the corporate education vertical (evidenced by participation in the EDIX education exhibition). Operating geographies are limited to Japan, with a headcount of 11-50 employees supporting the channel and technical services function.

Technically, Force Media does not develop proprietary technology; the underlying technology stack is owned by its vendor partners, including QNAP's QuTS hero ZFS operating system, Intel OpenVINO and Edge TPU AI acceleration for QuMagie and QVR Face, and Newline's all-in-one 4K interactive display hardware. The company's role is localization, technical pre-sales, bundling, and after-sales support for these third-party products within the Japanese market. The company announced a merger on April 22, 2024, with the counterparty not publicly disclosed.

Name

Force Media

Legal name

ForceMedia, Inc.

Website

https://forcemedia.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IT Hardware Distribution

NAICS

Broadcasting and Content Providers (516)

SIC

Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829)

akta.pro primary industry

Content Supply Chain Orchestration & Workflow (Ingest-to-Publish, Automation) (MPAHALAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Title Mastering, Packaging & Deliverables (IMF, DCP, AS-11, Artwork) (MPAHALAH), Production Equipment & Technical Services (Camera/Lighting/Grip, Virtual Production) (MPAAAMAH)

Keywords

• Enterprise storage distribution
• Network attached storage
• Interactive display solutions
• Video surveillance systems
• IT hardware distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Hardware Sales: Sales of NAS storage systems, surveillance equipment, and interactive displays through authorized distribution channels. Products include QNAP NAS (various models from 2-bay to enterprise rackmount), VIVOTEK surveillance cameras, and Newline interactive whiteboards.
2. Software Subscriptions: QVR Elite subscription-based surveillance solution priced at $1.99/month per channel for AI-powered video surveillance with face recognition capabilities.
3. Maintenance Services: After-sales support including 先出しセンドバック保守 (advance replacement) and オンサイト保守 (on-site maintenance) service plans for QNAP products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Force Media is an authorized value-added distributor in Japan for global brands including QNAP (NAS storage systems), Newline Interactive (interactive displays), and VIVOTEK (surveillance cameras). The company provides pre-sales consultation, hardware sales, software subscriptions, and post-sales maintenance services to enterprise, SMB, SOHO, and education customers across the Japanese market.

Product overview

Force Media is an authorized distributor for the ELECOM Group handling QNAP NAS storage solutions and Newline interactive displays in Japan. The product portfolio centers on QNAP network attached storage (NAS) devices ranging from compact 2-bay to enterprise 30-bay systems powered by Intel/AMD processors, running QTS or QuTS hero operating systems. These NAS products support file sharing, virtualization (VMware/Hyper-V), backup/disaster recovery (Hybrid Backup Sync, Boxafe), surveillance (QVR Elite with AI face recognition), and multimedia applications. Supporting the NAS ecosystem are storage expansion enclosures and network switches. Force Media also distributes Newline interactive whiteboards (QA, Q+, RS, FLEX series) with 65-86 inch 4K touchscreens, built-in Windows PCs, and integrated web conferencing for enterprise collaboration, as well as VIVOTEK IP surveillance cameras.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ForceMedia: IT product distributor specializing in storage, surveillance, and display solutions under the ELECOM Group

Products and services

• QNAP NAS Network Attached Storage Systems Enterprise and SMB network attached storage solutions ranging from 2-bay to 30-bay systems with Intel/AMD processors, supporting file sharing, virtualization, backup, surveillance, and multimedia applications through QTS and QuTS hero operating systems. Sold to enterprise, SMB, and SOHO customers in Japan.
• Newline QA Series Interactive Displays All-in-one interactive touchscreens with 65/75/86 inch 4K displays, built-in Windows PC, camera, microphone, speakers (20W x 2 + 15W woofer), and QuattroPod wireless presentation bundle for web conferencing, digital whiteboarding, and collaborative meetings in enterprise and education environments.
• VIVOTEK IP Surveillance Cameras and NVR Solutions
• QVR Elite Surveillance Software Subscription Subscription-based high-performance video surveillance solution for QNAP NAS with AI-based face recognition, real-time monitoring, and MP4 recording, priced at $1.99 per channel per month.
• Hybrid Backup Sync Software Comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution supporting local, remote, and cloud storage backup with QuDedup source-side deduplication technology, integrated with Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace.
• QNAP Storage Expansion Enclosures RAID expansion enclosures (TR-004, TR-002, TL-D800C, TL-D400S, TL-D800S, TL-Rx00PES-RP series) for expanding QNAP NAS storage capacity with additional drive bays, including petabyte-class SATA HDD JBOD enclosures.
• QNAP Network Switches Managed and unmanaged 2.5GbE/10GbE/25GbE network switches (QSW series) including half-width rackmount 100GbE managed switches and 16-port full 10GbE L2 managed/unmanaged switches for SMB/SOHO and enterprise high-speed network infrastructure.
• Maintenance and Support Service Plans After-sales support service plans for QNAP products including advance replacement (先出しセンドバック保守) and on-site maintenance (オンサイト保守) services, provided through the ELECOM Group QNAP/Newline support center.

Quantifiable outcome

• TS-1655 achieves up to 3,499 MB/s sequential read and 2,465 MB/s write speeds with dual 25GbE connections
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration13 records

AI capability6 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Newline Interactive, Inc.coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 6 February 2023Force Media partnered with Newline Interactive to distribute the QA Series interactive whiteboards in Japan. Newline Interactive was founded in 2012 by Chris Bradford and Kevin Wang, specializing in all-in-one interactive touchscreens for enterprise collaboration.
• QNAP Systems, Inc.coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2004Force Media is the official authorized distributor of QNAP NAS products in Japan. QNAP Systems, Inc. is a Taiwan-based company established in 2004, specializing in NAS storage solutions with global presence including operations in China, USA, and Japan.
• VIVOTEKcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForce Media distributes VIVOTEK surveillance products in partnership with DX Antenna. User registration for VIVOTEK products is managed through the registration.forcemedia.co.jp platform.
• ELECOM Co., Ltd.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerForce Media is a member of the ELECOM Group, operating as ELECOMグループ QNAP/Newline support center. ELECOM is a major Japanese IT peripherals and accessories company.
• DX Antenna Co., Ltd.minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDX Antenna Co., Ltd. is partnered with Force Media for VIVOTEK surveillance product registration and support in Japan.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Newline Interactive: US-based all-in-one interactive touchscreen vendor whose QA Series is distributed in Japan by Force Media. Directly comparable because it is the principal brand that Force Media markets and supports to Japanese enterprise and education buyers.
• I-O Data Device: Japanese manufacturer and distributor of NAS storage, network equipment, and storage peripherals. Directly comparable to Force Media's QNAP/NAS distribution and accessories business in the Japanese SMB/SOHO storage market.
• Logitec INA Solutions Co., Ltd. Japanese IT peripherals and storage distributor with direct OEM/ODM relationships. Comparable to Force Media as a value-added Japan-based IT hardware distributor serving enterprise and consumer markets.
• Synology Japan: Global NAS vendor operating a direct Japan subsidiary and channel. Competes head-on with the QNAP-branded NAS distributed by Force Media, addressing the same enterprise and SMB storage buyers with similar form-factor and feature sets.
• Buffalo Technology (Buffalo Inc.): Leading Japanese IT peripherals and networking/NAS vendor with deep retail and SMB distribution. Overlaps directly with Force Media's NAS, switch, and storage expansion product lines sold through Japanese channels.

Broad incumbents

• Axis Communications (Japan): Global leader in network video surveillance distributed in Japan via local partners. Comparable to Force Media's VIVOTEK distribution and surveillance-storage bundled offering for enterprise and city surveillance customers.
• ELECOM Co., Ltd. Parent group of Force Media and one of Japan's largest IT peripherals/accessories companies. Comparable as a broad incumbent IT distributor/reseller with overlapping storage, networking, and AV peripheral categories, though much larger and more diversified.
• Hanwha Vision (Japan): Surveillance camera and video analytics vendor with Japan distribution. Competes with the VIVOTEK product line distributed by Force Media in the IP camera and NVR segment.
• Sharp NEC Display Solutions: Japan-headquartered large-format display maker for enterprise and education. Comparable to Force Media's Newline interactive display distribution as an incumbent alternative for meeting-room and classroom AV deployments in Japan.

Others

• QNAP Systems, Inc. Taiwan-based NAS hardware manufacturer whose entire Japan channel Force Media operates. Included as the primary partner brand; its own direct enterprise sales and channel programs materially shape Force Media's competitive position and risk profile.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Force Media