June 2020 Vol. 18 No. 662020

https://www.ntt-review.jp/archive/2020/202006.html

View from the Top
Katsuhiko Kawazoe, Senior Vice President, Head of
Research and Development Planning Department, NTT

Front-line Researchers
Tatsuaki Okamoto, NTT Fellow, Director, Cryptography &Information Security Laboratories, NTT Research, Inc.

Feature Articles
Cognitive Foundation® for Innovative
Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN)
Approach to Cognitive Foundation® for the Innovative
Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN)
Quality-prediction Technology for Optimal Use of Multiple
Wireless Access Networks
Intelligent Zero-touch Operation

Feature Articles
NTT Group’s Initiatives in Food and Agriculture
NTT Group’s Initiatives Regarding Food and Agriculture
Community Revitalization by Utilizing ICT and Agriculture
Development of the Food and Agriculture Value Chain by Using “Tsunagu” Distribution Platform

View from the Top

Katsuhiko Kawazoe, Senior Vice President, Head of
Research and Development Planning Department, NTT▼Overview
NTT is promoting the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) to provide an
information and communication technology infrastructure that brings about various
benefits. The company is pursuing research and development of key technologies toimplement IOWN in 2030. Now that the entire world has been hit by an unprecedented
situation due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, expectations for NTT’s efforts
based on its philosophy of contributing to society are growing. We talked withKatsuhiko Kawazoe, NTT Senior Vice President, Head of Research and Development
Planning Department, about the attitude of his department—which ought to be called
the “brain of NTT”—to tackle this crisis and the sense of value of NTT researchers.

Feature Articles
Cognitive Foundation® for Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN)

Approach to Cognitive Foundation® for the InnovativeOptical and Wireless Network (IOWN)▼Abstract
There is an urgent demand for information andcommunication technology (ICT) to meet the needsof industrial and social systems. These systems
include the management of rapidly increasing
devices and diverse digital services. In this article,
we introduce NTT Group’s approach to fully
automated, autonomous, and self-evolving life-cycle
management of ICT resources, including thedeployment and optimization of such resources, toprovide applications and solutions.

Feature Articles
NTT Group’s Initiatives in Food and Agriculture

NTT Group’s Initiatives Regarding Food and Agriculture▼Abstract

Regular Articles
Radio Frequency Equipment for High Maintainability and Availability in Remote Island Satellite
and Disaster Relief Satellite Communications

Global Standardization Activities
Activities to Revise the Radio Regulations on 5-GHz-band Wireless LANs at WRC-19 and ITU-R

Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies
Case Studies of Telecommunication Failure Caused by Electromagnetic Noise from Inverters

Agriculture is a key industry in rural areas of Japan;
however, it faces various problems such as long-term
decline in the working-age population, aging of thepopulation, natural disasters due to climate change, andsecuring sales channels. To solve these problems,AgriTech—which uses biotechnology, the Internet ofThings, big-data analysis, artificial intelligence, and robots
in the field of agriculture—is attracting attention. Since its
privatization in 1985, NTT has been required to have amission with both public and corporate aspects. In
consideration of this dual mission, NTT is striving to create a smart world to solve social issues through its
business activities. With agriculture positioned as a priority, we are working to create Smart Agri by using
information and communication technology developed for telecommunications business to solve problems
faced by the agricultural industry through cooperation with leading partners. The direction of initiatives by
the NTT Group, specific examples, and future plans are introduced in this article.