IOWN furthers pace of next-gen optical net development

After activating a 3,000km all-photonics network (APN) between Taiwan and Japan with Chunghwa Telecom, boasting approximately 17ms latency, no jitter and stable communication, NTT has revealed it’s pressing ahead with proof of concepts (PoCs) in its rapidly evolving Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) project.

IOWN has been created to meet the growing needs of the hyper-connected business world of the future, offering a future global communications infrastructure capable of enabling ultra-high-speed, high-capacity internet services utilising photonics-based technologies. In its mission, NTT is being supported by the likes of Ericsson, Nokia, Sony, Ciena, Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft, Orange, Telefónica and Google.

NTT’s IOWN APN infrastructure is designed to enable high-capacity, low-latency and low-power-consumption communications through end-to-end optical connections without converting optical signals into electrical signals.

It aims to address the almost exponentially rising demand for data and a commensurate rise in energy consumption due to the vast amounts of compute power required by future applications, in particular artificial intelligence (AI) and large language model (LLM) use cases. This network and information processing infrastructure includes terminals that can provide high-speed, high-capacity communication using technology focused on optics, as well as large computational resources.

In a progress update, NTT has revealed the impact of IOWN in accelerating business; building the backbone of society in 2030; dynamically evolving the architecture; offering the flexibility and connectivity of next-generation factories; and aiming to pioneer energy innovation through photonics-electronics convergence.

The proof of concepts revealed in the update encompass transforming infrastructure through innovations centred on an APN; “revolutionising” spatial experiences with communication technologies; and enabling real-time, long-distance connectivity in manufacturing. Four real-life examples were offered by NTT, namely the company’s own large-scale datacentre in Ashburn in the US; the Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025; a Mitsubishi Chemical Group facility; NTTʼs R&D Center; and Shinko Electric Industries.

Noting that datacentres form the backbone of the internet infrastructure that powers our daily lives, the Ashburn PoC utilising APNs is currently underway to connect datacentres in distant locations with ultra-low latency, looking to enhance the flexibility and resilience of their underlying infrastructure.

The Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025, planned to be held on Yumeshima Island in Osaka, will serve as a testing ground for cutting-edge technologies. At the site, NTT aims to show the worldʼs first deployment of a data-centric infrastructure, addressing the scalability and performance limitations of a traditional ICT infrastructure. APN technology will link the Expo site to datacentres, aiming to enable ultra-high-speed video analysis and real-time feedback to adjust the physical space.

The PoC is currently underway at a Mitsubishi Chemical Group facility, focusing on remote factory maintenance and inspections conducted from hundreds of kilometres away. Robots and drones equipped with advanced sensors and cameras detect anomalies in real time, with the help of a digital twin, offering a preview of the future manufacturing landscape.

An APN is seeing use to provide real-time anomaly detection through cameras and sensors on robots at remote sites. Integrating the digital twin with the physical environment is said to have made factory maintenance and inspections more reliable and cost-efficient.

Driven by advancements in photonics-electronics convergence devices, the IOWN project will look to extend beyond networking to encompass computing, going from research and development to large-scale production. Advances from silicon photonics to membrane photonics at NTTʼs R&D Centre and Shinko Electric Industries are facilitating the development of more compact and energy-efficient semiconductor packages.