In a keynote address delivered by NEC during the 18th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, held from 10-11th December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Kenji Takemura, Head of EMEA Transport Center of Excellence (CoE) and Director, Service Provider Solution Department, outlined the company’s commitment to leveraging AI technologies to advance sustainable development and redefine global connectivity.
The NEC executive emphasized the transformative potential of generative AI (GenAI), which is unlocking revolutionary services while simultaneously posing significant energy challenges, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach that includes renewable energy and power optimization.
Central Excellence and AI's Role in Sustainable Development
AI, although powerful, requires immense computational resources, consuming nearly ten times more energy than traditional technologies. This energy intensity demands innovative solutions to ensure AI's growth aligns with sustainability goals. NEC is tackling this issue through a multi-pronged approach, including renewable energy integration, energy-efficient product design, and AI-powered optimization of power usage within data centers.
A key component of NEC's strategy is the evolution of data center architecture. Traditionally centralized in major cities, data centers must now transition to distributed networks in suburban or rural areas, harnessing natural resources and renewable energy. This distributed model promises to balance power supply and ensure high-throughput, low-latency connectivity across interconnected data centers. NEC views this as a critical step toward creating a sustainable and efficient AI ecosystem.
Innovations in Data Center Architecture
Addressing the requirements for the evolution of sustainable data centers, Takemura pointed out the need for green design and solutions to make distributed data centers a reality.
Together with NTT and other industrial leaders, NEC is pursuing the possibility of all-optical networks for sustainable development. Through a groundbreaking initiative with NTT and other industry leaders, NEC’s establishment of an Advanced Photonic Network (APN) by 2030 aspires to achieve unparalleled efficiency, offering 125 times the transmission capacity and consuming significantly less power compared to existing systems by 100 times. The APN will support advanced applications, including real-time video production, synchronized robotics, and smart infrastructure management, reducing end-to-end latency by 200 times.
Key Vision and Principles of Sustainable Growth
Pioneering a smart and sustainable society with Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), Takemura introduced the three key visions of their solution: open disaggregation, sustainable, and trustworthy and future oriented.
- Open Disaggregation: By fostering collaboration with industry stakeholders and adopting disaggregated solutions, NEC enables service providers to customize their networks without overhauling existing investments. This approach not only reduces costs but also accelerates deployment and innovation.
- Sustainable: According to Takemura, NEC has been ranked the second-most sustainable company in 2024, proving its commitment to green practices from production through operation. He also mentioned their extensive experience in manufacturing solutions and serving hundreds of customers worldwide.
- Trustworthy and Future-Oriented: Takemura also underscored NEC’s active involvement in standardization activities with organizations like TIP, OIF, OpenROADM, and the IOWN Global Forum, aiming to lead official technology standards.
Envisioning a sustainable future where communication breaks all limits, Takemura cited several examples including the NTT Global Data Center Proof of Concept (PoC), Africa’s first TIP Phoenix Open Optical and Transport platform, and a strategic Oracle partnership whereby NEC and Oracle collaborated to optimize NEC hardware and software for seamless performance in the Oracle environment. Additionally, a large enterprise PoC showcased unified GPU clustering across multiple data centers, enabling GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) capabilities.
By combining innovation with collaboration, NEC is paving the way for a future where AI-driven solutions and sustainable practices converge, delivering unique value and securing a brighter, more sustainable future for all.
