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IOWN Global Forum Annual Member Meeting April 2021 – Highlights

Executive Summary

The IOWN Global Forum marked yet another milestone in late April, hosting their first Annual Member MeetingReaching record high numbers with representation from12 different countries, seven different time zones, and over 52 member companies, more than 400+ individuals from IOWN Global Forum were in attendance. 

During the Annual Member Meeting, IOWN Global Forum President and Chairperson Katsuhiko Kawazoe, Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development Planning, NTT Corporation, welcomed all members by expressing his deep gratitude for the continued successes and increasing member participation in working to grow technological innovation. He also took a moment to reflect on this divided time and the need to accept diversity for the potential to produce advanced industry infrastructure in all realms. 

Plenary Keynotes

Director Gerald Degrace, Head PM for Azure Networking Hardware and Networking OS, Microsoft, delivered the keynote presentationreflecting on the successes seen from switching speed and radix and the immense growth IOWN Global Forum has made just this past year. To continue to break the barriers between the cloud and edge, he reminds members of the need to switch innovation and packaging on the forefront. He concludes by recognizing that no single technology will solve all IOWN’s needs but leveraging Use Cases combined with 50+ companies from all diverse industries allows for these challenges to be met 

IOWN GF System and Technology Outlook Report, and Use Case Discussions 

Day 2 discussions unveiled the IOWN GF System and Technology Outlook report, which focuses on two technical areas, Open All-Photonic Network (APN) and Data-Centric Infrastructure (DCI), to leverage the evolution of accelerating technologies. Looking to close identified gaps using IOWN’s Architecture plan, stakeholders are presented with the benefits from IOWN’s work to lower emissions and increase innovation. In addition to the detailed explanation of this technology document, the Use Case Discussion session allowed members an opportunity to learn more about the activities our member organizations are leading. Presentations held by Takuya Oohata of Mitsubishi Corporation, Jaime Lluch of Telefonica and Fabrizio Granelli of Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT), included topics ranging from Power Energy Management, challenges towards Vision 2030 from a network perspective, and empowering collaboration between research, industry, and customers with joint labs. Our members’ contributions are valuable and allow us to continuously improve the use cases enabled by IOWN Global Forum.

Technical/Strategic Breakout Sessions and Focus Areas

The technical discussions filled day 3 of the Annual Member Meeting, which included four presentations provided by Takashi Murakami of Anritsu, Phiip Ji of NEC Lab, Aaron Chase of Infinera and Roberto Sabella of Ericsson. Intending to identify potential technology roadblocks and new concepts for IOWN Global Forum to consider, our member organizations presented topics focusing on technology gaps in photonics-electronics convergence technology, the benefits of Fiber Sensing in IOWN Open All Photonics Networks, the value of pluggable optics in network transformation, and optical networking for industry performances.

The technical and strategic discussions held on day 4 gave members insight into the IOWN Global Forum roadmap and plans to accelerate IOWN’s progression with a presentation by Clara Li, TSC Chair, Intel, a better understanding of the liaison strategy broken down into phases led by Liaison Task Force Leader Hans Werner Bitzer, NEC, and a detailed explanation for the standardization around proposals led by Daisuke Yamanaka, AGC Inc.

Election of New Board Members and Officers

At the beginning of the meeting, the 2021 newly elected Board of Directors, Shingo Mizuno, Corporate Executive Officer, EVP, Vice Head of System Platform Business (in charge of Network Business), Fujitsu Limited and Gilles Bourdon, Vice President Wireline Networks & Infrastructure, Orange Labs, were announced. Bourdon and Mizuno introduced themselves and presented their plans for excelling innovative infrastructure for IOWN’s Global Forum and the world around us by taking on this opportunity to be Directors of the IOWN Global Forum.

Shingo Mizuno

Corporate Executive Officer, EVP, Vice Head of System Platform Business, Fujitsu Limited

Gilles Bourdon

Vice President Wireline Networks & Infrastructure, Orange Labs

Shingo Mizuno

Corporate Executive Officer, EVP, Vice Head of System Platform Business, Fujitsu Limited

Gilles Bourdon

Vice President Wireline Networks & Infrastructure, Orange Labs

To conclude the first Annual Member Meeting, it was declared that all sitting officers were re-elected to the IOWN Global Forum board for 2021-2022. In the closing remarks, IOWN Global Forum Secretary Masayuki Hattori, Senior Vice President, Sony Group Corporation, offered his appreciation to all the members, acknowledging how the number of members has drastically grown to over 50+ members in just one year. With new members coming from various industry sectors, IOWN Global Forum has diversified. He expressed his confidence for the future of IOWN Global Forum with this diversification enacting the ability to work together to advance innovation and technological infrastructure to adhere to the unpredictable time we are living in. 

President and Chairperson

Dr. Katsuhiko Kawazoe

Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development Planning, NTT Corporation

Treasurer

Dr. Geng Wu
Dr. Geng Wu

Intel Fellow and Chief Technologist for Intel Wireless Technologies & Standards, Intel

Secretary

Dr. Masayuki Hattori

Senior Vice President, Sony Group Corporation

Dr. Katsuhiko Kawazoe

Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development Planning, NTT Corporation

Dr. Geng Wu

Intel Fellow and Chief Technologist for Intel Wireless Technologies & Standards, Intel

Dr. Masayuki Hattori

Senior Vice President, Sony Group Corporation

All presentations from the Member Meeting are now available, to all IOWN Global Forum members, via the Member Platform. If you are interested in becoming a member, learn how to join today. We thank you all for your support and involvement in making this Member Meeting such a success, and we look forward to many more member meetings in the future. 

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