New Year's Cover Story

Japan's communications in year 2008-the first year for NGN: Fixed and mobile convergence and opticalization gain momentum

In 2008, Japan's communication environments will reach a great turning point.  This is because the curtain will rise on "the Great Reform for Communication Networks" that intends to integrate the fixed phone and cell phone telephony into one IP infrastructure, in the wake of the commercial services of NGN (Next-generation Network) that will be launched in March by NTT East and NTT West.  The concept of "fixed mobile convergence" will turn into a full-scale reality with Femtocell that is a small base station for cell phones.  This article will try to present an overview of what impacts the changing communication environments will give to the enterprise networks.

Overview

At last, the curtain will rise on the NGN age with fixed as well as cell phones cheaper and faster

Enterprise networks

Menu integration will start among carriers with keywords of one stop and all-in-one

NGN

This is the year during which enterprises identify when they should adopt NGN, new infrastructure different from leased lines and existing VPNs

Fixed mobile convergence

Femtocell, whose commercial services will be launched in late 2008 due to deregulation, will drastically change extension telephony

Wireless data communication
Usage increases due to flat-rate services with improved security in cooperation with functions within personal computers

Systems and policies

This year will be a watershed moment of optical fiber developments in Japan with arguments for interconnection charge revision and leasing rules for optical fiber settled