NTT was selected as a company to implement ”Post-5G Information and Communication System Infrastructure Reinforcement Research and Development Project,” which was publicly solicited by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

The R&D themes in which NTT will participate are “Optical chiplet packaging technology,” “Optoelectronic convergence interface memory module technology,” and “Determined delay computing platform technology,” which will be promoted together with co-proposers and partners participating in the IOWN Global Forum.

Yosuke Arakane, head of the NTT IOWN Promotion Office, said, ”IOWN attaches an optical interface, or optical chiplet, to a computer’s CPU, GPU, memory, etc. This is the core initiative. Regarding control, we will work on it in the form of a memory module.Also, with IOWN APN, the delay can be determined with considerable accuracy.A network where you can know exactly when a reply will arrive, rather than a network where you do not know when a reply will arrive, is an advantage for computers. “By distributing and arranging various computer parts over a network, new computer architectures can be realized. We will continue to research and develop these fundamental technologies”.

Regarding the network, in order to provide APN as a network, the company plans to work on network control technology and wavelength conversion technology to efficiently use limited wavelengths, with a view to further advancing the current version.
By accelerating the research and development of opto-electronic convergence devices and incorporating light into both computer and network infrastructure, we are considering transitioning from the traditional CPU-centric architecture to a data-centric architecture.