Editorial

Research and the Multi-Media Society

Can there be anything hotter than the blistering heat wave that has hit Japan this summer? Judging from recent newspaper reports and company press releases, the answer is multimedia. For example, an advisory panel to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications predicts that multimedia will open up a market worth 123 trillion yen, far surpassing the auto industry's 40 trillion yen. Multimedia will have an impact on a wide spectrum of industries, ranging from telecommunications and electronics to education and entertainment. NTT's recent decision to reorganize some of its R&D laboratories into a larger Multimedia Group indicates the importance that multimedia will have for NTT's future research and business activities.

To many of our readers in research and development, especially in the telecommunications area, there is not much doubt as to whether or not some form of interactive multimedia will materialize. It will inevitably happen. Even today, with a personal computer connected to the Internet, it is possible to send and receive pictures, listen to audio clips, and view short videos. The more pressing question for researchers is whether or not to become actively involved in its development.

Although excitement about multimedia is growing, some research areas, traditionally supported by computer and telecommunications companies, are rapidly contracting. One consequence is that many researchers, both young and old, are concerned not only for the future of their disciplines but for their own jobs. The hardest hit have been the hardware researchers.

What should we learn from these developments? Clearly, researchers must keep firmly in mind the long-term benefits of their research. In his farewell address to NTT Basic Research Laboratories, retiring director Dr. Tatsuya Kimura urged researchers to consider how their own research area will look ten years from now. This requires a critical, disciplined assessment of where we are now and where we are going. Also, managers and researchers must increasingly share the responsibility for articulating a vision for research. That vision should embrace the strategic needs of the company and society. At the same time, it must encourage exploration of as yet unimagined possibilities. In this way we can all contribute toward and be excited about the coming multimedia society.

Global News
The NTT International Researcher's Newsletter

Editorial Board: Arturo Chavez-Pirson, Stephen Friberg, Bruno Huttner, Wayne Lui

Global News is published independently by the International Researchers of the NTT Research and Development Centers with the support of NTT Basic Research Laboratories and Interdisciplinary Research Laboratories. This newsletter is not intended for general distribution, but for the private use of current and former NTT researchers in support of their activities. The editorial board is not responsible for the accuracy of the information that appears in this newsletter.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Masao Morita for his help and encouragement during his two and a half years as Senior Manager of the Research Planning Department, Keiichi Torimitsu for his help in scanning the pictures and Makiko Tawarada for the printing of this issue. Special thanks also to Catherine Gehrig de Chavez for a careful and professional proof reading. We welcome Bruno Huttner to the editorial board of Global News.