2015

In 2015, for further global expansion of our business, we focused on expanding our coverage in the field of public safety fields, providing countries around the world with an assortment of versatile security solutions for national identity systems as well as airport, harbor, and train station systems. To develop these solutions, we set up an R&D center dedicated to face recognition technology. Introduced below are the ten most accessed articles during the period of December 2018 to June 2019.

Virtualized IMS Solutions for Telecom Carriers

As the telecom sector continues to evolve and innovate, efforts are underway to develop more robust, SDN/NFV-driven solutions that can help reduce OPEX/CAPEX, facilitate disaster resistance and congestion control, and accelerate the development cycle to support even more rapid innovation and deployment of new services. NEC is a leader in the development of SDN and NFV and has already achieved significant results in this area. In this aper, we will introduce the virtualized IMS (vIMS) technology we have developed to provide voice communication services as part of our line of SDN/NFV solutions. We will also review NEC's future plans in this area.

ICT and the Future of the Retail Industry - Consumer-Centric Retailing

Over the past few years, trends in consumer behavior have undergone dramatic changes. Along with globalization of the economy and rapid evolution of the ICT environment, this has spurred a revolution in the retail industry. Retailers have found themselves forced to compete for consumer attention like never before. In such an environment, they can no longer survive unless they are chosen by consumers. To survive in the future, retailers must commit to consumer-driven models. To help the retail industry adapt to this new environment, NEC has developed ICT strategies to support retail operations in three key areas: improvement of consumer convenience, achievement of operational excellence, and IT service life cycle management (LCM). Furthermore, NEC is focusing on technology/product development and strategic investment aimed at adapting to the evolving needs of consumers and retailers.

The Introduction and Deployment of NEC’s Smart Energy Management System - “Smartizing” Energy Management at Obayashi CorporationTechnical Research Institute and NEC Tamagawa Plant, Building 9 -

Year after year, unit prices of electricity in Japan have been going up, increasing the burden on ratepayers. To help electricity consumers manage their consumption and exert greater control over their costs, NEC has been pushing forward with the development of a Building Energy Management System (BEMS) capable of forecasting demand for electricity and controlling the facilities accordingly. In this paper, we will take a closer look at our electricity demand prediction system and show how we have elaborated on it to create a system that will help make operations smarter as exemplified by the system we configured for, and delivered to, Obayashi Corporation Technical Research Institute. Also introduced is another case study in which the knowledge gained from the Obayashi Corporation deployment was applied to NEC Tamagawa Plant, Building 9.

Network Optimization Project for Telecom Carriers in Russia

The rapid expansion of mobile communications traffic that has taken place over the past few years has also led to the need for larger network capacity in mobile backhaul. However, telecom carriers around the world face severe price competition, making it difficult to pass on increased CAPEX and OPEX costs to subscribers. This means that it has become critical for telecom carriers to meet the needs of subscribers, while increasing network capacity and enhancing efficiency - all without increasing spending. This paper discusses the measures NEC's commitment is taking to solve these problems, focusing in particular on a solution tailored for telecom carriers in Russia.

Predictive Analytics Solution for Fresh Food Demand Using Heterogeneous Mixture Learning Technology

NEC's demand-predictive order automation solution uses our original "heterogeneous mixture learning technology" to provide highly accurate forecasting of demand for Fresh Food by analyzing the correlative relationships between various factors such as sales performance by time slot, what goods are discarded or sold out, as well as weather information. This solution automatically orders the optimal amount of goods based on the predicted demand, the inventory at retail stores, and the number of goods that are scheduled for delivery. By optimizing the order amount, it minimizes overstocking and understocking, and contributes to a more efficient ordering process.

Industrie 4.0 and the Latest Trends in Monozukuri Innovation in the Auto Industry

A number of years ago, the German government launched a project called Industrie 4.0, whose goal was to promote a cyber-physical system that would make possible "smart" factories. Likewise, in the Japanese manufacturing industry - where piecemeal improvements have already been implemented - a more cohesive effort is now underway to achieve "Process innovation" through the utilization of Internet of Things (IoT) and standardization of device interfaces. In the meantime, the Japanese auto industry, which is Japan's dominant industry, is undergoing significant structural changes as a result of global production shifts. This paper discusses NEC's proposal for advanced quality management system models based on IoT and big data, as well as related issues pertinent to the achievement of smart factories.

Development of the Digital Coherent Optical Transmission Technology

Due to the explosive growth of the Internet traffic, the capacity demand of the optical communication has rapidly increased. NEC has developed the packet optical integrated transport system "SpectralWave DW7000" by implementing the digital coherent optical transmission technology. This paper provides an outline of this technology.

Transit System Smart Card Solutions and Future Prospects

More than 100 million transit system smart cards have been issued in Japan to date and their usage rate in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area has surpassed 90 percent. Transit system smart cards have been established as a new type of social infrastructure that supports many different needs and lifestyles. At NEC, since the introduction of Suica, we have been leveraging our ICT technology to advance smart card development, while deploying our systems nationwide and building new value into this rapidly progressing technology. More progress is anticipated as we head towards 2020 and demand is expected to increase rapidly as newly emerging economies invest in modern public transportation infrastructure. By taking advantage of what we have already learned, we hope to promote and support the expansion of transit system smart card technology both in Japan and overseas, thereby helping to build the social infrastructure that provides the foundation for greater public wealth and comfort.

High-Capacity Backbone Networks and Multilayer Integrated Transport Systems

Exponentially increasing communications traffic and the fast-growing popularity of cloud services is putting tremendous stress on backbone networks, forcing telecom operators to boost the capacity of their networks and to introduce flexible transport systems capable of adapting to continuously changing network demands. At the same time, it has been desired as social network infrastructure that systems are reliable enough to ensure uninterrupted communications in the face of wide-area disasters. To address these needs, NEC has been developing technologies that support high-capacity, high-reliability networks. This paper discusses the various technologies developed and the latest network system based on these technologies, and also indicates future approaches.

Power Supply-and-Demand Balancing Solution Using Distributed Storage Batteries

The dissemination and expansion of renewable energy such as photovoltaic power generation are promoted by means of feed-in tariff (FIT) and other procedures. However, output fluctuations caused by weather events create concerns due to the unfavorable effects on the supply-and-demand balance of the electric power grid. A new mechanism for adjusting the supply-and-demand of electricity is called for in order to secure a stable electric power system. This paper presents a new power supply-and-demand balancing solution proposed by NEC that is based on its virtual integration technology for distributed storage batteries using a hierarchical hybrid control system.