A new photonic internet without electrons

A network of carbon threads suspended above an open space integrating nature, light and people with cameras capturing the facial expressions of visitors, transforming the structure into a living organism 'clothed in emotion' that moves and changes shape based on the sensations transmitted by people. Welcome to the Osaka Expo, inside the Ntt pavilion, where the Japanese telecommunications giant aims to integrate virtual and physical reality until the physical human being coincides with the digital one.

The first space recounts the evolution of communication throughout history, driven by the desire to connect with people all over the world, as a prologue to the next-generation communication experience, when distance will be completely obliterated. So we move on to the second room, where a performance by the musical group Perfume is relived with 3D glasses thanks to a floor that vibrates recreating the sensations of the 'first 3D space broadcast in real time', in the absolute absence of latency. Lastly, one lands in the future, with the 'Another Me' space, in which the visitor is doubled by being scanned into his 'digital twin', who comes to life moving autonomously and inter-angling with other avatars, beyond language and cultural barriers, opening up a glimpse into the human connection of the future.

The new frontiers of emotion recognition and the transmission of sensations going beyond sight and hearing are the fruit of the research on which Ntt is betting to realise the communications of a tomorrow that is increasingly today. Ntt Data, the business unit focused on consultancy and IT, is working on this future. With more than 2,300 researchers at global level, it invests 3.6 billion dollars a year in R&D, on a turnover of 30 billion, a little less than a third of the group's total 97 billion.

One of the three pillars of Ntt Data's research, together with Tokyo and Texas, is Italy. The Innovation Centre in Milan is thus one of the points of development of the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (Iown), the new communications infrastructure that will be the basis of an intelligent, sustainable and real-time digital future: the result of the work of an international consortium, the project focuses on an 'all photonics' network. Today, fibre optics stops at the last mile and the effects in terms of speed and efficiency are reduced with the digital switchover. Iown aims to extend the benefits end-to-end, with a flow that always remains on photons, without the brakes of electrons, with disruptive effects: an estimated one hundred-fold reduction in energy consumption, a greater increase in transmission capacity and a reduction in latency by more than two hundred times. In other words, a 40 GB file would take 50 seconds to travel 3,000 kilometres compared to over three and a half minutes today. It is a step-by-step operation: starting with transmission between two data centres, then moving on to two servers and completing with transmission within the same server.

Alongside, and complementing, Iown, the group is developing a deep empathic connection between individuals with Feel Tech, a technology that also allows physical sensations and movements to be shared through a system capable of replicating tactile experiences. Thus, in the medical field, the surgeon can perceive the feedback of the pressure exerted during surgery, while for ecommerce it could allow one to feel the fabric of clothes before purchase. The application of these tencologies is already a reality, for the evaluation of the positioning of products for the large-scale retail trade, starting with the pet sector, in the face of the emotional reaction of consumers. In Rome, a chatbot, Giulia, has been developed, built on an agentic basis, with an AI agent coordinating other specialised ones, which also provides real-time information of people in the emergency room queue on the basis of emergency codes, so that the quickest one can be chosen. In Osaka, Ntt Data participated in the events hosted by the Italian Pavilion on investments in Calabria and Apulia, regions where the company is particularly active, especially in R&D.