NTT Joins GreenTouch Consortium

AMSTERDAM ‒ May 11, 2011 ‒ GreenTouch™, a global industry initiative dedicated to dramatically improving the energy efficiency of information and communications technology (ICT) networks by a factor of 1,000, today announced that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies, has joined the consortium.

NTT will collaborate with other GreenTouch members – including service providers, equipment vendors, research institutions and universities from across the industry ‒ to research and invent technologies that will enable more energy efficient networks, plus create the network architecture, specifications and roadmaps that will define them.

NTT is committed to environmental sustainability and the decision to join GreenTouch is a further demonstration of that commitment. NTT looks forward to applying deep experience in networking technology and communications to advance GreenTouch initiatives in Services Applications and Trends, Wireline Access Networks and Core Optical Networking and Transmission.

“NTT shares the vision of a sustainable, energy-efficient future for information and communications technology networks,” said Morito Matsuoka, director of energy and environment systems Laboratories at NTT.  “We believe the GreenTouch Consortium will play a decisive role in realizing that vision, and we welcome the opportunity to take part in such an ambitious effort and work with other leading experts from across the industry and around the world.”

NTT research laboratories are strongly promoting green R&D activities in various ICT areas aimed at developing technologies for reducing CO2 emissions under the NTT Group’s new initiative ‒ The Green Vision 2020.  NTT believes that many of these activities must be able to be collaborated with GreenTouch ones.

“In making this commitment to GreenTouch, NTT is making a bold statement to the global community about its dedication to reducing the carbon footprint and improving the environment,” said Gee Rittenhouse, chairman of the GreenTouch Consortium and vice president of research at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs. “We are pleased to welcome NTT to GreenTouch, and expect that they will make a significant contribution and support the consortium in reaching its ambitious goal.”

About NTT

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) is a holding company of its subsidiaries in the NTT Group, which provides telecommunications and various ICT services to residential and business customers. NTT’s major businesses are planning management strategies for the NTT Group and encouraging fundamental R&D efforts. The approximate 2,500 researchers of the research laboratories are undertaking world-class R&D in wide-ranging areas, from basic research to commercial development of ICT.  With headquarters located in Tokyo, the consolidated operating revenues of NTT Group are 10 trillion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. For more information, go to www.ntt.co.jp/index_e.html.

About GreenTouch

GreenTouch is a global consortium of leading service providers, academic and industrial research institutions and non-governmental organizations working together to define the challenges, identify the trends and issues and develop solutions that will achieve the goal of delivering within five years the architecture, specifications, roadmap and demonstrations of key components needed to increase the energy efficiency of ICT networks ‒ in particular, the service provider networks that make up the Internet ‒ by a factor of 1,000 from current levels.

In June 2010, GreenTouch received an award for energy efficiency innovation at the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards event.  For more information, go to www.greentouch.org.