Strategies
Creating an Open Internet for a Secure World
Hisao Iizuka
Executive Vice President
Network Management Value President
Innovative IP Architecture Center, NTT Communications, Corp.
The Innovative IP Architecture Center was set up inMay 2002 to further strengthen the development
functions of NTT Communications, Corp. in the fieldof advanced Internet protocol services. NTT Communications’ technical strategy is based on looking
ahead to the future while taking a comprehensive
view of networks, equipment, and services. “Architecture” is what we call the technologies or mechanisms that make this strategy possible. Seen from thisangle, the primary mission of the center is to create
new IP services in coordination with the NTT
Group’s R&D and our global partners to maintain ourleading technical and developmental capabilities.
The context to our mission is the major, qualitativetransition that the Internet is undergoing. While theInternet boomed because of its openness and easy
extensibility, concerns about reliability and security
are mounting as it permeates our lives. For manyusers, the Internet has not yet become essential.
Hence, there are fears that if the status quo remains
unchanged, issues concerning the use of IP services
will paralyze efforts to create attractive services andwill curb the development of the Internet as an intrinsic element of our lives.
To overcome these problems, we have chosen four
key terms—security, comfort, ease and convenience,
and attractiveness—to express the direction of services we cover. Specifically, the center targets safe
services that can be used securely, high-quality services that can be used comfortably, services that canbe easily and conveniently assimilated into people’slives, and attractive services that deliver true value.
Operating under the slogan “an open Internet for asecure world,” we strive to offer high-added-value
services for the Net to create more comfortable, Netcentric lifestyles. To achieve this goal, we evaluate
leading technologies from the perspective of market
trends and create front-running architectures anddevelop pilot products.
Some specific R&D initiatives we are pursuing
include: voice-collaboration architectures based onvoice-recognition technology; IP-collaborationarchitectures aimed at creating new services thatcombine images, voice, and data; media asset management (MAM) architectures looking to the futurefusion of communications and broadcasting; IPv6
and ubiquitous architectures beginning with thedevelopment of platforms such as a unified authentication platform for integrating various IP services
and a service-coordination platform promoting thecoordination of business systems; next-generationnetwork architectures based on technologies andmultiprotocol label switching (MPLS) or generalized
MPLS (GMPLS), which will form the core of future
IP services such as security-management platforms;
and secure archive architectures focusing on contentsecurity. NTT Communications is also pushing ahead
with product development in close contact with business departments in service areas being tackled as ageneral corporate strategy. Some products underdevelopment include voice-over-IP (VoIP) systems
for the migration of conventional telephone services
to the IP world and digital-television relay networks
to support the changeover of television broadcastingfrom analog to digital signals.