About Us

Vice President, Head of NTT Network Innovation Center
Kenichiro Matsumoto

In the human-centric society created by Society 5.0, communication networks need to develop further to form the social infrastructure underpinning the distribution of diverse information between cyberspace and physical space. In addition to (1) the increased volume of networked data and (2) the exponential increase in energy usage by IT devices, there are also other significant changes to our surrounding environment, such as (3) the diversification of services and service providers, (4) the rapid decline in Japan's working population and (5) changes in the supply chain.
On the other hand, with 5G being launched commercially, countries around the world are already beginning research and development looking beyond 5G. Going beyond 5G provides a chance to transcend the boundaries of optical and wireless technology and greatly transform social infrastructure, including communications networks.
In 2019, NTT announced the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) initiative, which consists of the All-Photonics Network (APN), which connects everything optically, Digital Twin Computing (DTC), which predicts the future by combining the physical and digital worlds, and Cognitive Foundation (CF) which controls the connections between everything. NTT also established the IOWN Global Forum and has been actively making proposals through NTT Laboratories.
We are now in the phase of carrying out technological development to realize the IOWN vision. The Network Innovation Center will pursue the following initiatives to produce excellent research results and swiftly visualize and implement them.

(1) Development of technologies for early visualization of IOWN

a) Development of open and disaggregated network systems leveraging Whitebox and other technologies
A variety of advanced semiconductors, including FPGA, ASIC, and photonics-electronics convergence technologies, are essential to the creation of innovative networks. It is also very difficult to make full use of these advanced semiconductors in the way we would like. Network processing, such as RAN, VPN, and switch control, is becoming increasingly software-based, and we are working on technology that enables various effective network processing using advanced semiconductors.

b) Network resource optimization and harmonization, network operation technology (Cognitive Foundation®) advancement
Wireless resources are extremely complex, from standard 4G/LTE to satellite communication, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LPWA (low power, wide area) for IoT, 5G, local 5G, and so on. The Cognitive Foundation is responsible for optimally harmonizing all ICT resources across the network to distribute the necessary information. We are working on technology that ensures an appropriate network is always available, including core and access networks, allowing smooth use with no disruption to the user.

(2) Development of network software technology for wireless and wired linking/integration

There are various differences in network processing and operation between mobile networks such as 4G/LTE or 5G and fixed networks such as optical fiber. We will work on advanced network processing and operation technologies for both fixed and mobile networks in order to create a society where networks are naturally connected up to form an infrastructure, overcoming the boundaries of optical and wireless technology.

(3) Development of technology to maintain the competitive edge of existing networks

NTT's optical transmission network is expanding from 100 Gbps to 400 Gbps to meet our customer needs. In addition, PSTN will migrate to an IP network in around 2025. Maintaining the communications network that we have built up and developing it into a new network play an important role in infrastructure. In order to maintain a communications network and continue to provide services, we need to maintain and operate a huge number of facilities. We are working on technologies to enhance the maintenance and operation of these facilities and develop them into new networks.