IOWN Global Forum Hosts Successful Member Meeting in Munich, Accelerating Innovation for a Smarter, Connected World

First European Member Meeting Explores Phase 3 Work Items

The Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum (IOWN Global Forum) which seeks to create a smarter, more sustainable and connected world, recently hosted its first member meeting in Europe, welcoming nearly 200 registrants from nearly 50 different organizations. Additionally, key sessions were live-streamed with well over 400 members participating online from around the world across 16 different countries.

Collaborating for Progress

As a contribution-led organization, the direction of the IOWN Global Forum is based on a highly collaborative process. Earlier this year, the Forum issued a Call for Proposals to guide Phase 3 work items, resulting in the receipt of 34 innovative and forward-looking submissions. A key objective of the Munich Member Meeting was to evaluate, categorize, and finalize the submissions that warrant future exploration and inclusion as deliverables in the next phase of the Forum's work. The target start date for Phase 3 is January 2024.

While at the meeting, the IOWN Global Forum Board of Directors received and accepted its first Recognized Proof of Concept (PoC) Report “An Implementation of Heterogeneous and Disaggregated Computing for DCI as a Service.” This is the first of a longer list of ongoing work items and proof of concepts that demonstrate the viability, value, and performance of IOWN based technologies in building a connected and sustainable world.

To further guide the work of the IOWN Global Forum, the Technical Steering Committee has publicly released the "IOWN Global Forum: Key Values and Technology Evolution Roadmap" reference document. The key values, among others, include a holistic approach, an emphasis on implementation-driven solutions, a focus on system and architectural advancements, collaboration across industries, use cases, and technology, as well as a commitment to tangible deliverables.

Furthermore, the document sheds light on the anticipated evolution of networking and computing within the Forum's roadmap horizon. In terms of networking, significant innovations are expected to greatly enhance end-point connectivity while achieving deterministic Quality of Service with high energy efficiency. For computing, the focus lies on innovations that effectively facilitate the movement and processing of data, meeting extreme performance requirements while maintaining high energy efficiency.

Industry Leaders Share Perspectives on IOWN Technologies' Future

In his welcome, Dr. Katsuhiko Kawazoe, President and Chairperson of IOWN Global Forum, shared his observations on the combination of Generative AI and IOWN technologies. He highlighted the significance of the AI Community, which involves connecting small generative AI models to establish a larger collective intelligence. This collaborative approach, along with IOWN technologies, will drastically enhance AI efficiency, enabling real-time problem-solving and autonomous governance.

Dr. Masayuki Hattori, Special Appointed Chief Engineer, Sony Group Corporation opened the three day meeting, sharing his gratitude with membership on the accomplishments thus far of the Forum, along with emphasizing the potential for groundbreaking advancements and productive collaborations.

Dr. Tomohiro Otani, general manager of technology strategy division at KDDI Corporation, made his plenary talk, entitled “KDDI’s view on all photonic networks.” While he referred to KDDI Vision 2030 and its enabler, “KDDI digital twin for all”, he also introduced the benefit of an all photonic network (APN) and shared recent R&D results for highly reliable and low power consumption communication infrastructure with high capacity. He concluded his speech by encouraging the IOWN Global Forum to accelerate open innovation of APNs and leading the establishment of global standards along with other Standards Development Organizations and Forums.

Dr. Clara Li, IOWN Global Forum Technology Steering Committee (TSC) Chair, Sr. Principal Engineer for Wireless Standards at Intel, introduced the TSC deliverable on "IOWN Global Forum: Key Values and Technology Evolution Roadmap.” The talk elaborated on the Forum’s unique innovative structure and collaborative approach, and introduced the Forum’s two main technology values to deliver distinct benefits to the market and society: IOWN Networking and IOWN Computing. A technology evolution roadmap was laid out to realize the IOWN Networking and IOWN Computing design goals.

Continuing the theme of innovation and how IOWN technologies will fit into network and computing infrastructures, Giovanni Manto, Vice President from Nokia, presented “Developing the Connections of the Future” while Gert Grammel, Chief Technology Officer from Juniper Networks shared “The Open Optical Network Observer.” Other sessions featured Takki Yu, Vice President, Head of Infra Tech sharing “SK Telecom’s Views on 6G & IOWN,” Kevin Drury of Nokia Canada on “Addressing the Need for Quantum Safe Networking,” NTT’s Yoshihiko Kainuma summarizing the Forum’s Open APN exhibition at the Interop Tokyo 2023, and, Yoshinori Tsuzuki of NTT Comware presenting “Implementation Journey of XR Ping Pong on APN.”

The last day of the meeting included a closing message from IOWN Global Forum Director Jefferson Wang, Senior Managing Director, Global Network Practice Lead, Accenture. Mr. Wang expressed his gratitude to the attendees and their participation and shared his excitement for the Forum’s progress towards a better future.

Dramatic Growth Continues

Membership in the forum has risen steadily to 129 organizations and academic institutes globally, focused on the development of next-generation networking equipment, device technologies, network-enabled services, next-generation computing, and research in areas such as silicon photonics and distributed computing. Notable new member organizations since April 2023 include Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., APRESIA Systems, Ltd., drivenets, KEL Corporation, KYOCERA Corporation, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Nagoya University, NIPPON STEEL Chemical & Material Co., Ltd., Shiga University, Sompo Holdings, Inc., Taisei Corporation, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., and VIAVI Solutions.

About IOWN Global Forum

The objective of the IOWN Global Forum 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 designs in areas such as photonics R&D, distributed computing, use cases, and best practices.

Details on IOWN Global Forum and membership information can be found at https://iowngf.org.

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