NTT has signed a cooperation agreement with ITER, the International Fusion Energy Organization, which is building the world’s first experimental hydrogen fusion reactor in southern France. NTT is the first Japanese company to sign a collaborative agreement with ITER.
NTT said the collaboration will focus on:
- Exploration of innovative future Information and Communication Technology, including ultra-high-speed network, ultra-low latency network connectivity, data storage, computing, and global network infrastructure.
- Exploration of the concept “IOWN” including All-Photonics Network, Digital Twin Computing, and Cognitive Foundation.
- Information distribution and control platforms in preparation for ITER’s first plasma in 2025 and beyond.
“With an aim of achieving zero environmental impact, NTT is conducting R&D to create the innovations needed to achieve this goal, and carrying out its business activities in a manner that reduces its effects on the environment. Safe and permanent fusion energy is one of the most promising technologies in this important endeavor. We believe that NTT’s groundbreaking R&D activities, including IOWN, and our ability to construct global infrastructure can make a valuable contribution to the ITER Organization, a leading research entity in this area. Under this agreement, we will work closely with the ITER Organization to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power at an industrial scale for the first time in human history,” stated Jun Sawada, President & CEO, NTT.
“We, with the seven ITER Members, believe that fusion power can become a clean and safe vital contributor to the global energy mix for our civilization starting in this century for numerous millennium, and the progress of the ITER Project is essential for that path. I am pleased to have global ICT companies like NTT as one of our long-term non-commercial collaboration partners, with the solid capacity to develop advanced global ICT technologies as well as the capability to envision innovative future technologies strategies such as the IOWN concept that fusion will definitively need,” said Bernard Bigot, Director-General, the ITER Organization.
