This first blog entry already deals with a hot topic, Japan eyeing a post-Internet network.
Two weeks ago, the Japanese communications ministry (総務省: Soumusho) said the new technology is a must regarding current security issues and quality problems on the web. The new Internet architecture is planned to be brought into commercial use in 2020.
According to communications minister Yoshihide Suga cooperation between various academic, governmental and business organizations will begin as early as this fall. The budget for the project is not yet fixed. The Japanese fiscal year begins on April 1st, 2008.
Hmmm, what can we expect from this? Although Japan used to be No. 1 in the mobile Internet field (I used NTT Docomo’s excellent imode service for the first time in early 2000!), the country never was never really able to penetrate and set standards in foreign markets.
Maybe all this will change especially since Japan is open this time to cooperate with other countries including the US. The new network is planned to cope better with breakdowns, viruses and spamming. Moreover, the Japanese would like to ensure faster data transmission. Sounds good to me.
The political and economic intention behind the project is clear: Japan stands out as a pioneer in internet architecture and related hardware and software businesses here can enjoy a much-needed improvement in global competitiveness (more on this at a later time).
The media here (TV, online, print) reported in-depth about the planned post-Internet network. I will keep you up-to-date.
