R&D Spirits
Development of Autonomous Ubiquitous
Networks Based on the u-Japan Initiative
Hiroshi Sunaga
Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor
P2P Communication Service Group
Emerging Communication Architecture Project
NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories

Research and development espousing the “u-Japan” initiative continues to progress under theleadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) with the aim of making Japan a world leader in ubiquitous systems. As part of this huge project, a group headed by
Senior Research Engineer Hiroshi Sunaga at NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories is
researching and developing distributed service composition for autonomous and adaptive networks. We asked Dr. Sunaga to update us on the progress of this project, which is scheduled tobe completed by fiscal year 2007, and to tell us about international standardization activities inthis area.

Toward a ubiquitous lifestyle throughdevelopment of service composition
technology—Dr. Sunaga, could you outline for us your current
R&D efforts?
We are currently participating in an R&D project onubiquitous network technology headed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).
This is a large-scale, 5-year project running from fiscal years 2002 to 2007 that aims to construct networks for a ubiquitous society and to establish Japanas a world leader in ubiquitous systems as a matter ofnational policy. This project also includes plans foreven broader applications by linking up with projects
associated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry (METI), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure
and Transport (MLIT), and Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
Within this project, NTT is working with Hitachi, theUniversity of Tokyo, and Osaka University as the
Ubiquitous Authentication and Agent (UAA) Groupto research and develop new authentication and agent
technologies that can accurately reflect individual
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lifestyles and behavior patterns. This group aims tocontribute to the creation of personal ubiquitous
lifestyles in the not-too-distant future. At NTT, we
are working, in particular, on technology for distributed service composition in autonomous and adaptive
networks as part of agent technology development.
—What can this research ultimately be used for?
The main goal of this research is to achieve ubiquitous lifestyles at the individual user level. Today, awide variety of network domains are spreading
through society such as those for business, education,
retail sales, government, homes, hot spots, and intelligent transport systems (ITS). These domains can beused to form a ubiquitous world in which all kinds ofdevices including personal digital assistants (PDAs),
home appliances, and sensors connect with eachother (Fig. 1). Based on these networks and devices,
the amount of information and programs that can beprovided are sure to increase in an accelerated fashion in the years to come. In such a world, it would be
extremely convenient if individuals on the servicereceiving side could select and combine those functions that they deem necessary for their personal
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R&D Spirits

Composition of elements in the ubiquitous environment

Convenience,
personalization

Own service
scenarioContext awarenessBusiness domain

Educational
domainGovernment domain
Ubiquitous world

Consumer domain

Seamless,mobilityHome appliances

Hot spot

ITS domain

Hot spot

Fig. 1. Service creation in the ubiquitous environment.

needs. For example, a person who takes frequentbusiness trips could choose to enter his schedule in a
database so that an alarm would sound when it is time
for him to depart. He could then be presented with
useful information such as available transportation to
the destination in question and relevant maps, current
weather, and traffic reports. To make this possible, thesystem would search out his current whereabouts inorder to provide that information via the most appropriate device for that location, such as a personal
computer if he is in the office or a cellular phone if heis out of the office. Please note that, in this example,

the user who wishes to receive certain information
does not have to purposely specify “personal computer” or “cellular phone” to view that information.
Instead, the system selects the most appropriate
device for the location in question (Fig. 2). Furthermore, while I just stated that it would be convenient
if individuals on the service-receiving side could
select and combine those functions that fit their personal needs, I do not mean to say that a user would be
expected to prepare a program every time a service isneeded. The sheer diversity of user needs and circumstances would make this impractical. According-EngineService elements
Pronunciation

Vehicle?

1 Monitor

2 Printer3 Speaker

Vehicle113

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4 Video camera
5 Timer1

13 Train time table

6 Location sensor

Word translation service

7 Map

6

8

5

9

7

2

Personal scheduler service

Display

8 Scheduler

14 Weather report

9 Alarm

15 Authentication

10 Search engine

7

1

12

4

Traffic information

1

11 Translator
12 Traffic database

Fig. 2. Example of service composition.

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R&D Spirits

ly, the combination of functions to create services
according to personal needs and current circumstances must be based on the concept of distributed
service composition in autonomous and adaptive networks. This assumes that sensor and device functions
at the user’s current location are accessible and thatapplication programs on one person’s personal computer are allowed to be used by other users. These
functions and programs can then be combined to create new functions. To support this process, we need aservice composition engine, which is what my groupis currently working on.

Scheduler

Map

DisplayST(1) ST input

Meta-level service
scenario description
Servicecompositionengine(2) Find andselect SEs(3) Call SEs by
Web service
interface
Database

OWL-S-based
description

SE

SE

SE

—What are some key technical features here?
There are two key features here. The first is the
combining of services and devices, each of which hasa meaningful role on its own. This can best be understood by considering an orchestra as an analogy. An
orchestra is made up of many musicians, each ofwhom is proficient to at least a certain level. Therefore, each musician can perform as a soloist, but iffour come together, they can perform as a quartet. Ina similar manner, our system combines individual
services and devices in accordance with user needs
and circumstances. However, the manner in which
the functions of these services and devices aredescribed must be standardized, otherwise it will be
impossible for there to be any increase in the numberof functions and the types of locations in which they
can be used. For this reason, we use world-standard
Web Services technology to describe these functions.
This enables many and diverse types of informationand services to be provided in a uniform way.
The second technical feature is the use of new technology for writing service scenarios instead of having
to program a service each and every time. We use, inparticular, the description scheme of the Semantic
Web, which is becoming increasingly standardized.
With this scheme, we create a semantic diagram for a
scenario (consisting of a sequence of service elements) and input that diagram to a service composition engine for analysis. This engine discovers service elements required for the scenario on the network and executes it in the most appropriate form
(Fig. 3). Though new technology is need to write scenarios, this is simpler than having to create new programs one at a time. It should also be easy to customize scenarios with a certain amount of knowledge, and for this reason, we think that providing a
number of base scenarios at first will eventually
result in a dramatic expansion of services.
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SE: service element
ST: service template
OWL-S: ontology web language for services

Fig. 3. Basic mechanism of service composition.

—How far have you progressed in service composition and what are your future plans for this technology?
Well, as we are already at the prototype stage, I
would like to conduct field tests at the end of this fiscal year. Our target location for these tests will be a
shopping mall, and our plan is to set up network-connected displays inside stores and give terminals that
contain an IC chip and other functions to individual
shoppers. We will also store individual shopper information such as hobbies, interests, and product preferences inside a database beforehand. Then, during
actual shopping, the shopper’s current location isdetected by the IC chip and his or her personal information is retrieved from the database, so that personalized advertisements can be presented on the displays for that shopper. Although these will be shortterm field tests, we plan to modify the system inaccordance with customer needs and conduct technical verifications at the same time. Our goal is to bring
the system to a practical level by 2007, the final yearof the project.

Promoting international standardization of
network management technology—Dr. Sunaga, could you tell us about internationaland domestic trends in this research field?
Well, to begin with, Web Services and Semantic
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R&D Spirits

Web technologies, which provide a basis for work inthis field, are being actively standardized at organizations like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
and Global Grid Forum (GGF). And as a derivative of
these efforts, technology for combining service components is also being researched at various places.
Internationally, there is much activity surrounding aservice-oriented architecture (SOA) for enterpriseusers. However, none of these technologies can selectand switch available entities according to a user’s
current circumstances from one place to another as inour system. While it is true that some electrical equipment manufacturers and computer manufacturers inJapan are conducting research with objectives similar
to our own, their approach is somewhat different asthey mainly target the composition of devices within
the home and the office. Our plan is to distinguish our
research from the rest by treating the various network
functions provided by NTT as service components.
—Are you involved in any international joint activities?
In the past, from 1995 to 2001, we periodicallyexchanged research findings on next-generation network software with Telecom Italia Laboratories. As
for current research, we are working to get our results
incorporated in GGF standards. Let me mention herethat there has been much research effort of late tocombine Web services with grid concepts. Although
the word “grid” invokes an image of high-speed
computing achieved by gathering together small unitsof computing power to create massive computational
ability, it can also be applied to the grouping of various functions to create a new powerful function. In
this sense, I think that our approach, which aims to
combine a variety of services on the network and customize network services for each and every user, hasmany points in common with grid computing.
—Are you active in any international organizations
or committees?
Yes. To mention past activities first, I served as a
CCITT/ITU-T GS7 expert from 1987 to 2000. In thisrole, I presented a new direction in network management within the field of data communications andworked to have that standardized. I have also contributed to the preparation of six international standards as an editor of recommendations in the fields ofopen system interconnection (OSI) and telecommunications management network (TMN) and haveVol. 3 No. 10 Oct. 2005

served as a rapporteur promoting and overseeing
meetings. Also, from 1999 to 2001, I participated in
the TIPHON project of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as a liaison rapporteur from Japan’s Telecommunication Technology
Committee (TTC). At that time, I worked to report on
Japanese specific conditions and to incorporate
requirements from Japan in the international framework for the initial VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) launch and contributed to the preparation ofstandards. Since 2001, I have been participating as an
NTT representative first in the P2P (peer-to-peer)
working group at ETSI and then in the GGF, which
absorbed that working group.
In these standardization activities, I held discussions with many representatives from the leading carriers of France, the UK, Germany, the US, and othercountries, but unfortunately there were more differences in opinions and individual circumstances than I
had expected. To give you an example, NTT develops
its switches in-house, but most European carriers aresupplied with existing products from vendors. As aresult, the upgrading of switches is something that we
can do on our own as needed, while it presents amajor hurdle to European carriers. In addition, all of
the participating carriers came to the table as representatives of their respective countries and had toconsider national policies. Standardization is not
simply a matter of working out technical problems,
so it can be quite vexing. In the end, however, ourcommon interests won out and we were able to cooperate in solving new and challenging problems,
which was a great experience.
—What has been the response to your research andactivities to date?
In 1999, I was honored to receive the ITU Association of Japan Award for my standardization activities
at ITU-T. And among the 50 or so papers that I havesubmitted to international conferences, a number ofthem have generated ongoing research exchanges
with overseas researchers. With regard to more recent
research, I exhibited a prototype system at INTEROP
2005 that generated various levels of interest in themass media.

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R&D Spirits

Researching and developing network
software as a career—What research themes have you been involved withincluding those as a university student?
I actually majored in a field totally unrelated to mypresent work—control engineering. And my master’s
thesis concerned research in measurement systems
and spatial filters. But on entering NTT, I was put towork on developing packet switches. These switches
came to be used in systems associated with the Meteorological Agency, Ministry of Labor, and elsewhere,
and I have heard that they were also deployed in the
product management system of a major convenience
store chain. I then spent several years researching
telephone switches that became the basis for NTT’s
new node system and promoting standardization of
The Real Time Operating System Nucleus (TRON)
devised by Professor Ken Sakamura of the University of Tokyo. Next, from 1993 to the beginning of
1997, I worked on the research and development of acommon platform for the new node system. This platform was the basis of all the types of NTT’s switching services and we eventually commercialized it but
not without some setbacks. Just after the launch ofthis system, I moved to a section handling the nextgeneration network architecture. To be specific, node
research became the study of algorithms as a part of
VoIP technology, the forerunner of today’s IP telephony. At that time, I served as a committee chairman
at TTC, a Japanese standardization body, as I mentioned earlier. Then, in 2000, I returned once more toswitch-related research and was placed in charge ofextending the platform for use in a gateway system
between ordinary telephones and IP phones. I also
became involved with P2P research and development
at that time, which is about when the current project
started.
—What got you started in your present line ofresearch?
When I returned to the department dealing withswitches from the one dealing with network architecture in 2000, I felt that one of the most important concepts for forming an IT (information technology)society was ubiquitous services. Consequently, while
researching and developing P2P technology, which
was a very popular worldwide topic at that time, I
also endeavored to develop the concept of service
composition as a software technology that could aid
10in the construction of a ubiquitous society. It was in2002 that I began hearing talk about UAA research to
be consigned by MIC, and I went ahead and submitted an application. That is how I came to participate
in the UAA project.
—What do you aim for as a researcher as a result ofyour past R&D activities?
I am always trying to improve my R&D skills. As aresult, I hope that technology that I myself havedeveloped will come to be recognized by the researchcommunity. I guess it would be true to say that I havespent most of my career in the research and development of network software. This is consistent with myaims as a researcher. Specifically, the work of software development is both physically and mentally
trying, and when the deadline for program completion draws near, it is common for panic to set in. Here,the possibility of making my technology attractive tothe world through standardization activities and otherefforts plays a big role in helping me survive such
grueling work.

Making the UAA project a success andspreading ubiquitous environments
developed in Japan to the world—Dr. Sunaga, where do you and your current
research go from now?
As for the UAA project, I would like our service
composition technology to be a core element of uJapan and to be instrumental in producing ubiquitous
lifestyles created by Japan. As you probably know,
Japan had a late start in implementing IP networks,
but this time, I want Japan to be a world leader inubiquitous environments. As a nation, Japan is quite
enthusiastic about this too, so we must succeed.
Individually, I have put a lot of energy into this project while here at NTT, and when it is finished, I
wouldn’t mind working at a university. While it istrue that research suits me more than business, what I
really enjoy is teaching. In fact, it would not have to
be a university per se. At any rate, I would like toenter an organization involved with academic studies.
Before that, however, I want to make sure that thepeople under me are on the path to becoming independent and productive researchers in their own right.

NTT Technical Review

R&D Spirits—What is your ultimate goal as a researcher anddeveloper?
None in particular. The world of R&D is one inwhich something new is always appearing out of
nowhere, so deciding on an ultimate goal at any point
in time is meaningless. I enjoy taking on new andinteresting research themes from time to time.
—Based on your personal experience, how do you
think NTT is viewed by the outside world?
First of all, while NTT has traditionally been
engaged in cutting-edge research, it cannot be denied
that its overall direction in recent years has been
toward business-oriented development. Even from asystem-oriented perspective, the present arrangementof completely dividing research and development
will affect not only flexibility in R&D activities, butalso the motivation felt by the research staff. Not only
does this situation make it hard to conduct technically meaningful research regardless of its businesspotential, it also makes it difficult to discover new
research themes based on development experiences.
Needless to say, this arrangement is not conducive tofuture expansion of NTT R&D. This June, at the “7thSymposium on Technology, Policy, and Industry fora Ubiquitous Information Society—Toward uJapan,” the current state of R&D in Japan was talked
about. It was remarked that the corporate world is
reducing its support of fundamental research and in
this respect NTT Laboratories has not been fulfilling
its original role since the privatization of NTT. I think
this opinion warrants attention.
—What is it like to work at NTT Laboratories in yourpersonal opinion?
Although research is now becoming more businessoriented as I mentioned, I think that NTT researchers
are still blessed with a great environment comparedwith research laboratories of other private companies. I believe that a system that supports researchers
in obtaining a doctor’s degree is simply outstanding.
NTT Laboratories also encourages its researchers toengage in standardization and academic activities andprovides a relatively free environment in which toexpand one’s insight and deepen one’s relationships
with overseas researchers. This aspect deserves credit, and I myself appreciate it greatly. But as I mentioned earlier, NTT R&D will come to face some difficult obstacles in the future, and as a research manVol. 3 No. 10 Oct. 2005

ager, I worry about this.
—In closing, what advice would you give to young
researchers and developers?
For one thing, give your undivided attention to thework that you are currently working on, even if itshould be work given to you from above. In this way,
your own research theme will one day come to light.
I then want you to cultivate that theme and be active
in writing papers on it. But, to be honest, academic
papers are not strictly necessary. What is important isthat you grab every chance you have to present yourfindings at international societies so that you candeepen your experiences of international forums andexchanges with overseas researchers and developers.
And by all means, make an effort to improve yourskills as a researcher at all times.

Interviewee profile■ Career highlights
Hiroshi Sunaga received the B.E. and M.E. degrees
in control engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo in 1981 and 1983, respectively. He
received the Ph.D. degree in information sciencesfrom Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi in 2002.
After joining NTT in 1983, he was engaged in R&D of
telecommunication software for switching nodes(packet, telephone, PHS, and mobile), realtime operating systems, ATM, and VoIP. His current researchinterests include ubiquitous service creation, P2P, andgrid technologies. Until 2000, he was a Rapporteur of
ITU-T SG 7, where he contributed to the standardization of TMN, customer network management, and OSI
communications. He received the ITU Association ofJapan Award in 1999. He is a member of IEEE.

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