Technology initiatives for the near future in internetworking

The introduction of the Open Computer Network (OCN), providing Internet-like services by NTT, will lead to higher-level demands by users. For example, users will be asking for higher quality, greater functionality, and lower charges for high-speed, high-throughput data transfer. To respond effectively to the wishes of sophisticated and varied users, technology development must be pursued from the user's point of view. For this reason, research and development is being performed on middleware to open up network functions and make it possible for the user and network to cooperate with each other. This article discusses the development of major technologies for achieving an enhanced OCN (next-stage OCN) which should become a catalyst far the future multimedia network, and presents a future vision for the network.