December 2014 Vol. 12 No. 12

View from the Top

• Satoshi Kurishima, Senior Executive Vice President, NTT DATA

  

  Overview
  Today, as the information and communication technology (ICT) investment in Japan appears to be moving upward but is still sluggish, and as ICT becomes increasingly commoditized, NTT DATA is leveraging the power of its group companies doing business throughout the world to create new value on a global basis. We asked Satoshi Kurishima, Senior Executive Vice President, about the approach that NTT DATA needs to adopt to become a major global leading company.

Feature Articles: Technology for Innovating Software Production

• Software Production Technologies that Support Large-scale System Development

  

  Abstract
  Information systems that support social and industrial activities cannot be constructed without software on a large scale. Production technologies for developing such software, however, have made little significant progress over the past few decades, and what currently happens is that ever-increasing demands are met using labor-intensive methods. These Feature Articles describe innovative software production technologies that can overcome these issues with software development.

• Automation Technology for Software Development at NTT DATA

  

  Abstract
  Automation of software development is aimed at reducing the human workload in each process of software development. NTT DATA has been promoting this concept since 2010. A wide variety of approaches have been taken for automating software development, and as no special technology is required, there is little difference among these approaches. What is important is determining how to expand the use of automation technology and how to make it the de facto standard. This article describes the overview and status of NTT DATA's efforts to expand the use of automation technology.

• From Labor Intensive to Knowledge Intensive—Realizing True Shift to Upper Phases of Development with TERASOLUNA Simulator

  

  Abstract
  As described in the previous article, NTT DATA is promoting TERASOLUNA Suite as an automation tool product suite for system development and is achieving a significant reduction in workload in in-house projects. However, testing still requires a lot of work and man-hours. Thus, a lot of challenges remain to improve productivity. One solution being developed to meet these challenges is TERASOLUNA Simulator, which can reduce the time needed for the entire integration testing phase.

• Efforts to Reuse Software Assets

  

  Abstract
  While the technique of software reuse has been successful to some extent, a lot of failures have also been witnessed due to the inherent difficulty of reusing software. However, recent trends in big software data may lead to a solution to this problem. This article describes NTT DATA's latest research and development activities involving software reuse techniques.

• Legacy Modernization for Continuous Use of Information Systems

  

  Abstract
  Large-scale mainframe systems are becoming more and more complex and their internal structures are becoming unknown, which leads to higher maintenance, development, and system renewal costs. Migration to open systems can reduce these costs, although migration to a completely different platform is not easy. This article explains the difficulties in using open systems for rehosting of large-scale mainframe systems and presents solutions using automated system development techniques to address such difficulties.

Regular Articles

• Auto-calibrating Echo Canceller Software for VoIP Applications on Smartphones

  

  Abstract
  Automatically calibrating echo canceller software has been developed for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) applications on smartphones. Because the audio properties of smartphones typically depend on the model, the speech quality of a VoIP application may sometimes degrade, especially during hands-free conversations. We extended the calibration ability of our software in order to handle the variations in smartphone audio properties. As a result, our software exhibited better performance than most conventional software.

• Development of Optical Access Network Systems in Rural Areas

  

  Abstract
  We have developed a technique and equipment for installing optical cables and closures. The technique is optimized according to the characteristics of the area in order to reduce the construction cost of the facilities architecture and promote fiber-to-the-home services.

• Dense Space-division-multiplexing Optical Communications Technology for Petabit-per-second Class Transmission

  

  Abstract
  Research and development (R&D) of space division multiplexing (SDM) optical communications technology is well underway at NTT toward achieving high-capacity transmission on the order of one petabit (Pbit) per second or higher, which is equivalent to 100−1000 times the capacity of existing optical fiber. In this article, we describe the current state and future outlook of our R&D efforts in dense SDM. With this technology, we aim to achieve a quantum leap in optical network capacity through the use of multi-core fiber containing multiple optical-signal pathways in a single fiber and a multi-mode fiber capable of mode-division multiplexing.

Global Standardization Activities

• Results of ITU-T Focus Group on Disaster Relief, Network Resilience and Recovery (FG-DR&NRR)

  

  Abstract
  The Focus Group on Disaster Relief Systems, Network Resilience and Recovery (FG-DR&NRR) was established within ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union−Telecommunication Standardization Sector) in January 2012, as a Japanese government initiative, to study international standardization related to disaster response by utilizing information and communication technology (ICT). One of the authors (Noriyuki Araki) served as the chairman of this focus group. By May 2014, the FG-DR&NRR had held a total of eleven meetings (including two electronic conferences) and developed eight deliverables. This article reports the results of the final FG-DR&NRR meeting, provides an outline of the deliverables, and summarizes a plan for future international standardization activities in relation to the use of ICT to cope with disasters.

Practical Field Information about Telecommunication Technologies

• Case Studies of Damage by Wildlife in Access Network Facilities and Countermeasures

  

  Abstract
  This article introduces case studies of damage in access network facilities caused by wildlife, and also discusses countermeasures. This is the twenty-sixth of a bimonthly series on the theme of practical field information on telecommunication technologies. This month's contribution is from the Access Engineering Group, Technical Assistance and Support Center, Maintenance and Service Operations Department, Network Business Headquarters, NTT EAST.

New NTT Colleagues

• We welcome our newcomers to the NTT Group.

External Awards/Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings

• External Awards/Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference Proceedings