NEC 2012 Annual Report Download - page 27

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activities aimed at detecting early signs of deterioration in
electronic devices, buildings and water pipes. To
accomplish this, NEC has developed a vibration sensor
that can detect tiny, abnormal vibrations that were
previously difficult to capture. This was achieved by
increasing sensor sensitivity roughly twenty-fold in
comparison to existing sensors.
Furthermore, in the Smart Energy domain, rechargeable
lithium-ion batteries are expected to find more and more
uses in homes, buildings, power grids and so forth. NEC
developed a technology for extending the life span of
lithium-ion batteries by more than twice the conventional life
span. Elsewhere, together with Tohoku University, NEC is
pursuing fundamental research aimed at developing next-
generation LSIs that will reduce the standby power
consumption of electronic devices to zero, and succeed in
the development of its basic circuitry. These R&D
achievements will contribute to the efficient use of energy.
Turning to the contribution of R&D achievements to
business operations, NEC has adopted a proprietary
analytical algorithm for rapidly detecting deterioration in
system performance and identifying the cause in its WebSAM
OpenFlow is attracting interest as a new
network control technology supporting
simple and flexible operation of increasingly
large and complex networks. NEC has
conducted R&D activities as a core member
of the OpenFlow Consortium, a
standardization body for this technology,
since its founding. NEC has pioneered R&D
and commercialization of OpenFlow
technologies. In 2011, NEC launched
“UNIVERGE PF Series” (ProgrammableFlow),
the world’s first network control products
equipped with OpenFlow technologies.
In fiscal 2012, NEC developed technology
for automating the configuration of network
equipment by using OpenFlow technologies
in a cloud-based environment—one that
automates the operation of large numbers of
servers and network devices. As a result, this
technology simultaneously reduces security
management and operation costs while
enhancing networks. As one part of this
development, NEC provides open source
software that automates the control of IT and
network resources for OpenStack, a cloud-
based shared platform. In addition, NEC
focused on R&D efforts directed at building
efficient infrastructure for operators using
OpenFlow technologies. To address
burgeoning mobile communications traffic,
NEC developed a dynamic policy-based
mobile data offloading*1 technology for
mobile networks. This was done by installing
OpenFlow controllers in networks, and
installing software with OpenFlow switch
functions in mobile terminals. As a result, this
technology allows networks to be utilized
more efficiently.
OpenFlow is a technology that enables an
SDN (Software Defined Network) to flexibly
change the network functions and
configurations using software. By achieving
automation of network design and
integration, along with network optimization
matched to IT, SDN will help to drive the
expansion of ICT services. OpenFlow is
greatly contributing to NEC’s active proposals
regarding demonstration experiments and
standardization work for the Open
Networking Foundation (ONF), an SDN
standardization organization that was
established in March 2011. In April 2012,
NEC joined forces with Stanford University
and the University of California, Berkeley of
the U.S., as well as various companies, to
establish the Open Network Research Center
(ONRC) and commenced related activities.
Leveraging its OpenFlow R&D
achievements and product development
experience amassed to date, as well as
ONRC initiatives, going forward NEC will
continue to actively pursue R&D activities
aimed at applying SDN In a variety of fields,
including cloud data centers, communication
carriers, and service providers.
*1 Mobile data offloading: To address growing cellular
network traffic, this technique reduces network
loads by diverting data traffic from mobile phones
to non-cellular networks, such as wireless LANs.
Initiatives to Develop New OpenFlow Network Control Technology
•฀฀Priority: efficient usage of mobile networks to deal with rapid growth of heavy and diverse traffic led by
deployment of smart devices
•฀฀Approach: select appropriate mobile networks for each application based on control of mobile carriers
฀Advantages:฀
฀ ฀ •฀improve฀efficiency฀of฀network฀infrastructure฀for฀mobile฀carriers
฀ ฀ •฀improve฀performance฀and฀quality฀of฀applications฀for฀users
Mobile
carrier
network
Mobile
carrier
network
Internet
Internet
Mobile terminal Mobile terminal
Exclusive use WiFi WiFi
PaymentPayment
Payment Payment
MovieMovie
Movie Movie
SNSSNS
SNS SNS
Narrow Broad Broad
OpenFlow
Controller
OpenFlow
Switch function
Apply rules for the
network selection for each
application
Select and switch
mobile networks by
each application
Narrow
26
NEC Corporation
Annual Report 2012