Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) , NEC Corporation, The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. today announced that the four companies have
reached an accord to proceed toward the joint development of next-generation Internet
technology featuring superfast speeds and advanced functionality.
The project will have the support of Japan Information Processing
Development Center and will be one of the advanced information system development
test projects relating to the practical implementation of electronic commerce funded as
part of the supplemental budget of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry for
fiscal 1998. To move the project forward, a Real Internet Consortium (RIC
Consortium) has been established today comprised of researchers drawn from the four
companies and from eight universities. Looking to the future, the consortium will
move forward with the task of developing and disseminating the technology, and
seeking the participation of enterprises and researchers who concur with consortium
aims. The Real Internet Consortium will be headed by Masataka Ohta of the Tokyo
Institute of Technology, and Hitachi will be the secretariat.
The Internet is rapidly finding its way into all corners of society, led by the use
of e-mail and Web browsers. The world is looking to the development of next-
generation Internet technology to provide an integrated multimedia environment that
encompasses data communications, broadcasting and telephony. To enable very large
numbers of users to readily utilize Internet services such as broadcast and telephone
networks in an integrated environment, a number of issues have to be resolved. These
involve high-speed implementation of network traffic, securing of communication
transmission bands to ensure the quality of service (QoS), the introduction of priority
routing to networks, and so forth.
The project will develop a QoS routing protocol that has a small network
administration overhead, and a multicast protocol for distributing video data. The
results of the development work will be published at conferences of bodies engaged in
the promotion of international standards, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). At the same time, promotional activities by a newly-developed open
consortium will be used to develop network protocols and establish global standards.
By incorporating the new protocols, Hitachi and NEC will develop routers with
a performance in the terabit to petabit range, 100 to 1,000 times faster than current
routers, mainly for carrier backbone systems. The development is planned to be
completed during fiscal 1999. All of this will result in a next-generation Internet
environment that will make it possible for large volumes of data, including voice and
video, to be readily communicated at high speed among very large numbers of users.
The project will be managed by Hitachi, and the following four development
items will be implemented by the company or companies indicated.
Superhigh performance router utilizing supercomputer technology: Hitachi
Superhigh performance parallel router: NEC
QoS routing protocol: Hitachi, Furukawa Electric, Sumitomo Electric
Multicast protocol: NEC, Furukawa Electric, Sumitomo Electric
The eight universities (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Hokkaido University,
Kyoto University, Kyushu University, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima City University,
Teikyo University, University of Michigan) will be involved in all of this
development work.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading
global electronics companies, with fiscal 1997 (ended March 31, 1998) consolidated
sales of 8,417 billion yen ($63.8 billion*). The company manufactures and markets a
wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and
power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit
Hitachi's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) pioneered the concept of C&C, the
integration of Computers and Communications, and is the only company in the world to
be counted among top ranking corporations spanning the wide range of fields essential
for this vision of multimedia: computers, communications and electron devices.
Employing in excess of 150,000 people around the world, NEC saw net sales in fiscal
year 1997-98 amount to 4,901 billion yen(approx. US$37 billion). For further
information visit our home page at: http://www.nec-global.com.
The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the
world's leading manufacturers of electric wire and cable, nonferrous metals and other
related products, with fiscal 1997 (ended March 31, 1998) consolidated sales of
799,243 million yen($6,054 million*). The company also provides engineering services,
including the installation of power and telecommunications cables, and is a major
manufacturer of optical-fiber cables. For more information, please visit our web site at
http://www.furukawa.co.jp.
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.(SEI) is Japan's largest manufacturer of
electric wire and cable. Since its establishment a century ago, the Company has
engineered technological change by adopting an aggressive research and development
strategy. By innovatively fostering home-grown technologies and successfully
diversifying into exciting fields, Sumitomo Electric has positioned itself
as a key player in the global information revolution taking place today.
Head Office: Osaka and Tokyo
Major Products: Electric Wires and Cables, Special Steel Wires,
Sintered Alloy Products, Brake Products, Hybrid
Products, Cable Accessories and Engineering, New
Business and Others
Consolidated sales: 1,297 billion yen ($ 9.8 billion)
SEI's Web Site: http://www.sei.co.jp/
*At an exchange rate of 132 yen to the dollar.
Contacts:
Emi Takase Akiko Shikimori
Hitachi, Ltd. NEC Corporation
+81-3- 3258-2055 +81-3-3798-6511
emi@cm.head.hitachi.co.jp shikimori@p10-22150.star.nec.co.jp
Ryu Sawachi Masayuki Akatsuka
The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
+81-3-3286-3050 +81-3-3423-5625
pub@ho.furukawa.co.jp akatsuka@tokyo.sei.co.jp
|
