IEEE ICC 2011 Explores Global Advance of Wireless System & Networking Communications in Kyoto, Japan

IEEE ICC 2011 Explores Global Advance of Wireless System & Networking Communications in Kyoto, Japan

New York, New York (June 27, 2011) – Themed the “Source of Innovation: Back to the Origin,” the IEEE International Communications Conference (ICC 2011) recently concluded its latest annual event with over 1,800 international experts participating in 1,200 presentations dedicated to next-generation wireless and optical communications services.

Held in the fabled city of Kyoto, which reigned as Japan’s capitol for 1200 years and is recognized worldwide as the cultural heart of Japan, IEEE ICC 2011 began on Sunday, June 5 with the first of two full days of workshops and tutorials detailing the latest research in topics ranging from “Visible Light Communications” and “Practical Solutions for Cognitive Radio” to “Next Generation Broadband Access” and “Smart Grid Communications.”

The following morning, the conference’s comprehensive symposium and business forum commenced with the keynote of Ryuji Yamada, President & CEO of NTT DOCOMO, INC., who detailed his company’s “Actions for Growth” in the Japanese marketplace as well as its “Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake.” These “actions” included moving rapidly and steadily to restore the capabilities of 4,900 base stations to pre-disaster levels, while rigorously working to supply service to the areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant through the expanded use of high-performance antennas, radio networks and satellite systems.

Following this presentation, Professor Maurizio Decina of the Politecnico di Milano in Milan, Italy, detailed his vision of “Future Networks & Services” in a world that currently includes 5.3 billion mobile subscriptions and trillions of dollars in revenues. He also detailed a vision of a “flatter and much more densely interconnected Internet” comprised of cheap, easy and convenient on-demand services that “knows you and what is around you,” “learns what you like,” “discovers things relevant to you” and processes billions of transactions simultaneously.

At the end of these keynotes, attendees were then invited to any and all of the hundreds of conference presentations and business forums dedicated to the advance of global information security, wireless networking, communications theory, signal processing and cognitive radio technologies. For instance, Tokumichi Murakami of the Mitsubishi Electric Corp. in Japan began the morning session by declaring the 2010s the era of the smart phone during his address on “High Efficiency Video Coding for Smart Phone to Super High Vision,” while Professor Ryuji Kohno of the Medical ICT Center at Yokohama National University spoke about the “Future M2M for Medicine, Vehicle, Robot, Energy and Others” and the drive to develop “safe, secure infrastructures based on advanced ICT” that support “the intelligent traffic control of energy, money, vehicles and medical flows.”

Tuesday’s agenda then began with a commemorative ceremony welcoming numerous Japanese dignitaries such as the President of the Science Council of Japan Prof. Ichiro Kanazawa and His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino, who thanked all IEEE ICC 2011 participants and expressed their sympathies to the many individuals suffering losses during the country’s recent tragic events. Afterwards, a message from the Prime Minister of Japan citing the ongoing need to implement more advanced global communications systems to offset the affects of other international tragedies was followed by the keynote Dr. Toshitaka Tsuda of Fujitsu Laboratories Limited, who addressed the “ICT Paradigm Shift and the Trend of Communications Technology,” which is currently facilitating the sharing of large amounts of knowledge throughout global “Human Centric Systems” and “Human Centric Intelligent Societies.”

Other conference highlights from the day included the presentation of numerous business forums dedicated to topics such as “Telecom Transformation and Challenges,” “The Impact of Convergence on End Users and Service Provider Transformation” and “R&D for Green and Human Centric Networks.” Shyue-Ching Lu, CEO of Chungwa Telecom in Taiwan opened these sessions by speaking about the ongoing effort to advance and implement architectures and technologies that are expected to improve network efficiencies 1,000-fold over the next five years. Afterwards, Dr. Tsuda furthered his earlier comments by speaking about “R&D for Green and Human Centric Networks” and the requirements necessary to accommodate the increasing demand for bandwidth and green communications services.

Ibrahim Gedeon, IEEE ICC 2012 General Chair & CTO of Telus Canada, then concluded the morning business session by addressing the need to continually transform businesses through leveraged technology convergence practices. According to Gedeon, what is needed is a holistic view of convergence based on end-to-end business models that improve end-user experiences. This is because “one thing is clear” and that is end-users care most about the value of their experience and the amount they have to pay for it.

After a brief break, Yoshiharu Shimatani of KDDI, Japan started the afternoon’s business panels with his presentation on “KDDI’s Vision of Innovative, Seamless and Eco-friendly ICT Platforms” and the company’s efforts to develop seamless multi-networks that support robust and sophisticated anytime, at anywhere applications. This entails alleviating the rapid rise of traffic congestion through the development of innovative ICT platforms and cloud services that drive the newest e-health, e-education, e-environment, e-disaster prevention infrastructures.

Tetsuya Yuge of Softbank Mobile Corporation, Japan, then followed this address by highlighting his company’s “Wireless Broadband Strategy for Growing Mobile Data Traffic” and the societal, business and cultural benefits produced through the prevalent use of smart phones within the Japanese marketplace. Young Ky Kim of Samsung Electronics, Korea also leveraged the theme by exploring the “Crossroads in the Middle of Mobile Big Bang Era” and the mobile industry of the future.”

Throughout the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday, IEEE ICC 2011 proceeded with the presentation of numerous General Business Forums provided by the representatives of leading worldwide corporations and academic institutions such as Hitachi, Mitsubishi, NTT, Create-Net, DOCOMO, University of Zurich, Politecnico di Milano, University of Geneva, UC Berkley and Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. During these sessions, experts from each facility readily shared their views and research in areas that included “Scientific Wireless Sensor Network Testbeds: Growth & Impact,” “Green ICT,” “Business Showstoppers of Cognitve Radio Technologies,” “Business Strategies of sustainable Growth on Broadband Telecommunication Markets,” “eHealth Support in the Future Internet.”

On Thursday, June 9, IEEE ICC 2011 then concluded the conference’s extensive five-day agenda with a second day of tutorials and workshops dedicated to key communications like “MIMO Detection for Emerging Wireless Standards,” “Wireless Without Batteries,” “Beyond IMT-advanced: The Next 10 Years,” “Green Communications & Energy Efficiency,” “Advances in Mobile Networking” and “Embedding the Real World in the Future Internet.”

As for IEEE ICC 2012, planning has already begun for the next event to be held June 10 – 15 in Ottawa, Canada. Titled “CONNECT COMMUNICATE COLLABORATE,” original papers detailing the latest advances in wide ranging communications are currently being accepted with a deadline date of September 6, 2011. For more information in this premier annual conference, including “Call for Papers” details please visit www.ieee-icc.org/2012. All interested parties are also invited to use the conference’s Facebook and Twitter pages to share thoughts about IEEE ICC experiences and upcoming attendance and scheduling plans with peers and colleagues.