15MATSUMOTO Kazuyoshi et al.

1 Introduction

Info-communications are beginning toplay a crucial role in societal economic devel-opment. It is essential that we establish across-border information infrastructure inaccordance with the globalization of info-communications in the Asia-Pacific Regiontaking into account societal, cultural, econom-ic, and technological differences among therelevant countries. We are designating such aninfrastructure as “APII”, an acronym for theAsia-Pacific Information Infrastructure.

The APII Technology Center was estab-lished at the CRL Kansai Advanced ResearchCenter, Kobe City, in 1997 as the leadingorganization in APII construction. The APIITechnology Center’s objectives are to promoteinternational joint research and experiments ininfo-communications in the Asia-PacificRegion, with a particular focus on Internettechnology, and also to contribute to thehuman resource development in the region［1］.

2 APII Testbed Project

The APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Coop-eration) formed a Working Group to promotethe APII Testbed Project. The Working Groupconsisted of Japan, the Republic of Korea,and the Republic of Singapore. The groupagreed［1］ in September 1997 to perform 12joint experiments between Japan and Korea,and to perform nine joint experiments in Feb-ruary 1998 between Japan and Singapore. Thejoint experiments with Korea were conducteduntil March 2000 and those with Singaporewere held until March 2001. A 2-Mbps net-work was also constructed in October 1997 tosupport these joint projects.

After the First Phase of experiments endedin March 2001, experiments between Japan andKorea continued by lease of the 8-Mbps sub-marine cable. Then, a new 1-Gbps submarinecable was laid between Kitakyushu and Pusanin January 2003, and Japan-Korea joint experi-ments were upgraded. Thirty-one joint projectsof various types［1］were selected at theupgrade. The submarine cable is also connectedto JGN2 domestic and international lines［2］and

2-2 Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure(APII) Testbed Project in Cooperationwith JGNⅡ

MATSUMOTO Kazuyoshi, KITAMURA Yasuichi, and IGARASHI Kiyoshi

APII Testbed Project is a joint project between Japan and Republic of Korea approved byAPEC-TEL WG. Since APII Technology Center was established in CRL Kansai AdvancedResearch Center, Kobe City in 1997, this project has been conducting joint researches amongcountries in Asia-Pacific Region by using high speed R&D Internet that includes Korea-JapanAPII Testbed of 1 Gbps initially starting from 2 Mbps.

KeywordsInternet, Research and development network, Asia-pacific information infrastructure

16 Journal of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology Vol.52 Nos.3/4 2005

linked to the AI3 satellite Internet［3］. Further,APII has developed cooperative relationships invarious additional initiatives［5］, including theNSF TransPAC2 project［4］. Resultant achieve-ments are reported at the semiannual meetingof the Asia-Pacific Economic CooperationTelecommunication & Information WorkingGroup (APEC-TEL WG)［6］.

Following are descriptions of some recentmajor experiments and demonstrations.(1) Korea-Japan IP-Control Car Race 2003

At the CRL Open House Day on August 1and 2, 2003, a racing event for remote-con-trolled (specifically, IP-controlled) model cars

took place through bi-directional transmissionof DVTS images between CRL and HanyangUniversity in Korea［1］.

(2) Remote lecture experiment between Japanand KoreaIn June 2003, an experimental remote lec-

ture was given between Japan and Korea,using multi-site, bi-directional image trans-mission between Donga University (Korea),Makuhari Gigabit Research Center of theTelecommunication Advancement Organiza-tion (TAO), Hongo Campus of the Universityof Tokyo (Japan), and Tohoku University(Japan).(3) Experiments on IP Streaming Delivery of

HDTVAt the APAN Pusan meeting on August

15, 2003［5］, HDTV transmission demonstra-tions were conducted connecting Portland,US, with the Pusan site at a transmissionspeed of 270-Mbps. Seventeen experimentswere carried out simultaneously at the site.

Fig.1 APII Testbed (First Phase)

Fig.3-1 Korean children (DVTS images)

Fig.3-2 Racecourse for IP-Control CarRace (Koganei site)

Fig.2 Configuration of present network

17MATSUMOTO Kazuyoshi et al.

(4) Demonstrations between Korea, Japan, andHawaiiAt the 17th APAN Hawaii Meeting on

January 26 and 27, 2004［5］, experiments wereperformed connecting Korea, Japan, andHawaii by IPv4/v6 protocol. The experimentsincluded demonstrations of IP-control car rac-ing, Ruff Systems HDV transmission, HDTVtelemedicine, and multicast DVTS delivery［1］.

(5) Ruff Systems HDV demonstrationsAt the 14th KOBA held in Seoul, Korea,

from May 19 to 22, 2004 (http://koba.or.kr),participants witnessed live display using theAPII Testbed, based on the Ruff SystemsHDV jointly developed by NICT and TokyoElectron Limited.(6) Telemedicine demonstrations

At the 18th APAN meeting held in Cairns,Australia, on July 2, 2004［5］, telemedicinedemonstrations were conducted connectingKorea, Japan, and Australia.(7) APII Workshop 2004

NICT and KISDI, Korea co-hosted aworkshop on Internet R&D in the Asia-PacificRegion at NICT Koganei Headquarters onOctober 28 and 29, 2004. Of the 86 partici-pants, 17 were from Korea, 21 from Japan,three from China, one from Thailand, and onefrom Singapore, with the remaining 43 fromJapan as audience.

The workshop will be held in each ofNICT and KISDI in turn; the second work-

shop is scheduled to take place in Seoul,Korea, in September 5 and 6, 2005［1］.Day 1:• Keynote speech (Telemedicine, Kyushu Uni-

versity)• Introduction of APII project

• APII Technology Center (NICT)• APII Cooperation Center (KISDI)• Activities in Kyushu region• Activities in Korea

• International collaboration• China: Activities of CERNET and CST-

NET• Research and education activities in

Thailand• Activities in Singapore• Activities in Japan• Activities in Korea• GENOM Project (NCC, Japan)

Fig.4 Simultaneous demonstrationsbetween Korea, Japan, and Hawaii

Fig.5 Telemedicine demonstrations

Fig.6 Keynote Speech (Telemedicine)

18 Journal of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology Vol.52 Nos.3/4 2005

Day 2:• Group Meeting for APII Experiments

between Kyushu and Korea• Remote education for foreign language

lectures• Technology development for digital cul-

tural exchange• Progress of HDTV@IPv6 Project in

Korea• On-site test of simplified traffic measure-

ment tools• Telemedicine by Hanyang University• Spread of Gigabit IPv6 network• Active and passive measurements in

KOREN

3 Technical training concerningthe Internet

Since 1997, we have been conductingongoing international joint research and exper-iments on the next-generation Internet. Wehave also worked to contribute to the develop-ment of next-generation human resources,capitalizing on the particular advantages of theexperimental facility. We provided technicaltraining for the multimedia technology in theearly stages and are now providing technicaltraining in next-generation Internet technologyin collaboration with the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA) and the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT)［1］.

3.1 Training program exampleWe sought people interested in the latest

info-communication technologies and havingthe advanced skills they would need for poten-tial participation in the joint activities of theAPII Testbed project, as interns to be giventhe training program conducted in collabora-tion with APT. We selected the topics with afocus on lectures in cutting-edge technology.Table 1 provides a general summary of thefive-day training program.

The training conducted in collaborationwith JICA constitutes a part of the trainingcourse on the standardization of telecommuni-cations and fills the first two days of the APTtraining schedule. Table 2 provides anoverview of the training program.

Fig.7 JICA training participants in Janu-ary 2005 and the authors(Kazuyoshi Matsumoto is the second from leftand Kiyoshi Igarashi is the fifth from right.)

Table 1

Table 2

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3.2 Past record of training programsTable 3 lists the training courses provided

between 1997 and 2005.

3.3 Examples of participating coun-tries

Among the APT participating countries inthe Asia-Pacific Region, twelve participated inAPT training (February 2002): Bangladesh,China, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mongolia,Nepal, the Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka,Thailand, and Vietnam. The JICA trainingprogram was not restricted based on region,with a number of participants from SouthAmerica, Africa, and East Europe.

4 Conclusion

NICT will continue with a range of jointprojects to respond to the spread of the Inter-net in the Asia-Pacific Region and to promotenetwork progress, and also intends to continuewith training projects aimed at developinghuman resources in this area.

Acknowledgement

We would like to express our sincere grati-tude to the many lecturers and participatingparties.

Table 3

References01 http://www.tc.apii.net

02 http://www.jgn2.nict.go.jp

03 http://www.ai3.net

04 http://www.transpac.org

05 http://www.apan.net

06 http://www.apectelwg.org

20 Journal of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology Vol.52 Nos.3/4 2005

MATSUMOTO Kazuyoshi

Senior Researcher, StandardizationPromotion Division, Strategic PlanningDepartment

Networking

IGARASHI kiyoshi

Director, International Alliance Divi-sion, Strategic Planning Department

Upper Atmospheric Physics, RadioEngineering

KITAMURA yasuichi

Senior Researcher, InternationalAlliance Division, Strategic PlanningDepartment

Next Generation Internet Deployment