Wakefield, MA – April 15, 2020 – The Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum (IOWN GF) unveiled today its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum Vision 2030 and Technical Directions White Paper and the IOWN GF steering committees and working groups. The steering committees and working groups will begin work in late April. IOWN GF also announced that Chunghwa Telecom, Ciena, Fujitsu, Microsoft and NEC joined as sponsor members. Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings joined as a general member.
Founded by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Intel Corporation (Intel) and Sony Corporation (Sony), IOWN GF was established to define the next generation communications infrastructure and help create a smarter world for billions of people.
“The coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread quickly causing infection and transforming the lives and economies of people around the world. We couldn’t have foreseen this outcome,” said Katsuhiko Kawazoe, Ph.D., president and chairperson of the board, IOWN Global Forum, Inc. “For the moment, even with some of the most dedicated and intelligent people in the world focused on treatment and prevention, answers still elude us. Although the focus in this case is healthcare, IT is more involved than ever before in the daily lives of people and in many industries. For example, in the current pandemic, telecommunications and teleconferences have significantly increased the traffic on communication networks. My sincere hope is that as society changes, IT research and development will similarly evolve to meet the new challenges. It is my belief that IOWN GF and its activities will be instrumental in aiding humanity both today and in the future.”
The global forum’s objective is to accelerate the adoption of a new communications infrastructure that will bring together an all photonics network infrastructure including silicon photonics, edge computing, dynamic computing scaling and wireless distributed computing to meet global future data and computing requirements.
IOWN GF Vision 2030 – A Smarter World
With artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented realities, 5G, dynamic computing scaling, blockchain and other advanced technologies on the verge of becoming part of the daily lives for billions of people, IOWN GF’s Vision 2030 is to define and build a global communications infrastructure over the next decade capable of sustainably maximizing the benefits these new technologies offer society and businesses. The hope is to create a smarter world where technology is used more naturally and becomes more pervasive for all. Download the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum Vision 2030 and Technical Directions White Paper here.
IOWN GF’s Steering Committees And Working Groups
IOWN GF’s goals include securing 100 members, publishing 75 technical specifications and releasing 50 proof-of-concepts by 2030. This work will be driven by IOWN GF’s steering committees and working groups. The steering committees will be responsible for facilitating collaborations and interactions between working groups, leading working groups’ scope arrangement and increasing awareness of IOWN GF. The working groups will be responsible for producing specifications, use cases and reference architecture, deciding technical scope and content. Steering committees and working groups include: Vision Steering Committee; Technology Steering Committee; Marketing Steering Committee; Use Case Working Group and Technology Working Group.
About IOWN GF
IOWN GF’s objective is to accelerate innovation and adoption of a new communication infrastructure to meet our future data and computing requirements through the development of new technologies, frameworks, specifications and reference design in areas such as Photonics R&D, Distributed Connected Computing and Use Cases and Best Practices.
Technology, telecommunications and other industry organizations are invited to join the forum. Based in the United States, IOWN GF membership opportunities are available. More details on IOWN GF and membership information can be found at: https://iowngf.org.