Connectivity defines computing. Our ability to interconnect data resources and repositories across services that stem from the backbone of the cloud fabric is the natural evolution of the pre-millennial networking age. That was a time (back in the eighties and into the nineties) when we used to talk about hubs and switches working across local and wide area networks with awe and appreciation. The connections that we now form in the cloud can be traced down to the applications that now enjoy interconnectedness and, ultimately, to the connections that exist across silicon wafers and electronic circuits.
Some of those standards are changing. The application connection points remain comparatively static (although, yes, AI is changing everything), but the way we forge and fuse connectivity is changing as a result of optical technologies and photonics i.e. the use of light to change what was once an electronic connection point into a photonics-based connection capable of working at much faster speeds using far less power and with increased responsiveness.
What Is Photonics?
We have detailed the mechanics of this potential paradigm shift before in relation to research and development work carried out by NTT Corporation. The company’s Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) approach is engineered around photonics technology for ultra-high capacity, ultra-low latency and ultra-low power consumption. It’s worth remembering that as we stand today, the vast majority of our devices still do use electronics to process and transmit information.
In contrast… and as a branch of optics science, photonics is all about the creation, detection and management of light through various types of modulation, switching, application and sensing to enable photonics-based microprocessors i.e. light-based chips capable of performing high-speed arithmetic calculations that are even said to pave the way towards optical quantum computers.
Conscientiously working to evolve these technologies (some of which we still need to finish building the hardware for, let alone start thinking about how the software constructs and functionalities will work), NTT says it is taking an altruistic approach to the R&D by making sure its work helps create a more “sustainable society for all” going forwards.
Some of its latest work in this arena sees the application of NTT’s All-Photonics Network (APN) to advance cloud-based endoscopy capabilities and remote production. NTT and Olympus Corporation (yes, the one you know for cameras, but that also makes microscopes, thermometers and endoscopes) have announced the creation of a cloud endoscopy system utilizing the NTT IOWN APN with what is said to be an ability to solve the associated network issues that arise in cloud-based medical technology at this level.
For those without a biological science bent (and the squeamish who would prefer not to think about such things if given the option) an endoscope is a medical device in which a flexible tube is inserted into the natural openings of the body to perform an examination and obtain tissue samples. Today, endoscopes are used increasingly more often due to the equipment’s low level of invasiveness and high level of safety.
This reference to “cloud-based endoscopy” here means this use of Olympus’ endoscopes to perform image processing, which has been conventionally processed within the endoscopic equipment, on a remote [private] cloud. This has been difficult to achieve with conventional technology for a lot of reasons, but networking strength and performance being among the key factors. NTT says its IOWN APN technology makes it possible to process images in real-time on the cloud and that this use case helps establish a reference model for the “commercialization” of cloud endoscopy systems in the immediate future.
Jitsuyouka: Commercialization & Usefulness
If that commercialization point sounds a little flaky or fanciful, it perhaps shouldn’t i.e. NTT founds and centralizes a good deal of its research and development around the concept of “Jitsuyouka”, which quite literally translates into English as commercial development for usefulness, but NTT tempers that definition with a need for products and services to benefit society as well.
According to NTT, “[Today], current endoscopes handle all functions within the endoscope device, making performance limitations and maintainability an issue. In addition, it is expected that more cases in the future will require flexible feature improvements and updates based on new user needs, such as real-time remote diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, NTT and Olympus are developing an endoscopy system in which functions with high processing loads, such as image processing, can be done on the cloud.”
By sharing the processing load with graphical processing units in the cloud-located datacenters, users can receive the latest functions through software updates and enable real-time remote diagnosis and treatment by sharing video information across multiple hospitals. To build a cloud endoscopy system, NTT and Olympus have started demonstration experiments centered on IOWN APN to solve technical problems in the network. In this demonstration experiment, the companies will construct an experimental environment in which an actual endoscope and a GPU server are connected by IOWN APN, using it as a starting point to carry out further verifications. NTT says it will consider expanding use cases, such as promoting the use of other medical devices on the cloud, based on the knowledge gained from current experiments.
NTT researchers have also developed a lineup of on-site construction, maintenance and operation technologies essential for the commercial introduction of four-core multi-core optical fiber optical transmission lines, which enable a single communication optical fiber to have four times the capacity of current optical fibers. This achievement is expected to accelerate the practical application of four-core MCF optical transmission lines in inter-datacenter optical communications, where the demand for optical fiber cores continues to grow exponentially and in submarine optical transmission sections, where optical fiber mounting space in optical cables is limited.
Making Moonshots Matter
Looking ahead, NTT invests $3.6 billion in its global scientific research and technology R&D initiatives annually. A lot of that investment capital – obviously – comes from its existing customer base, so one wonders how the company balances the need to be seen building technology that works in the here and now, while, equally, also showing evidence of technology progression for a future age we’ve yet to even enter in many industrial segments and spheres.
As a real world (out of this world) example, NTT R&D is developing technology that will enable wireless cable-free power transmission connectivity to happen through Lunar regolith (moondust, to you and me) so that we might one day be able to power rover vehicles on the surface of the moon. Not useful yet, but most people would agree that this is pretty amazing. At the same time, the company is helping to build extreme networking connections through undersea cables that have infinitesimally small delays. It’s an application that works really well for video conferencing and even for football (sorry, soccer) commentators to present in synch around the globe. Definitely very useful.
There aren’t many technology firms focused on developing network solutions that span moonshots and penalty shots, but there’s sometimes a different attitude towards innovation in the Far East where NTT originates, so this duality is possibly perceived with more credibility on home soil first. Whatever next, electronic toilets? That’s old news, we need to look to the stars.
