[ What's New ] [Apr. 2013] NII Today No.45 [The New World Being Created by Ultra-High Speed Database Engines] is published. (Corresponding toJapanese No.59) [Jun. 2009] NII Today(English version) is registered online ISSN. Numbers are below,
It is said that we are now in the age of "big data". "Development of Ultrafast database engine" was selected by the Cabinet Office as one of the 30 research projects to be supported by the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology, whose goal is to take a leading global position. The research project aims to develop the technologies that will serve as the core of big data processing, and investigate their application into society. Professor Kitsuregawa, the principal investigator, discussed with us the position of the age of big data within the history of computer development, how it will change future society, and what role the new technologies will play. Read article
Masaru Kitsuregawa (Director General, National Institute of Informatics / Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo) / Atsuko Tsuji (Staff writer at Op-Ed Section, the Asahi Shimbun)
Database engine which can quickly process massive amounts of data are essential for the big data utilization. In recent years, database engine technology has generally been considered as having reached maturity, but a team led by Professor Kitsuregawa is developing new ultrafast database engine based on the new principle of "out-of-order execution". We talked with Professor Kitsuregawa about the state of the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology, which is striving to achieve search speeds 1000 times faster than conventional search technologies by using out-of-order execution. Read article
Masaru Kitsuregawa(Director General, National Institute of Informatics / Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo) /
The high-speed data access infrastructure released by Hitachi, Ltd. in late May, 2012, generated a great deal of interest throughout the IT industry. Hitachi Advanced Data Binder Platform boasts high-speed search capabilities approximately 100 times faster(*1) than theirconventional products. Read article
One of the sub-themes being advanced as part of the Kitsuregawa FIRST Project, in addition to database engine development, is Subtheme 2: "Large Scale Cyber Physical Application Verification Testing". We talked with Naonori Ueda, leader of Subtheme 2, about examples of social applications of database engines in fields such as medicine and agriculture, as well as machine learning, a technology vital to big data handling. Read article
Naonori Ueda (Visiting Professor, National Institute of Informatics / Senior Distinguished Scientist,Director of Machine Learning・Data Science Center, NTT Communication Science Laboratories)
One of the sub-themes of the Kitsuregawa FIRST Project currently underway is the Portable Clinic Project, being carried out in Bangladesh by Kyushu University Hospital associate professors Naoki Nakashima and Ashir Ahmed. Let's look at the potential for BOP (Base of the Pyramid) business and social contribution system construction using big data by examining the example of this demonstration experiment. Read article
Naoki Nakashima (Associate Professor, Medical Information Center, Kyushu University Hospital)
The NII Shonan Meeting, which began in February, 2011, was held for the 20th time in February of this year. Last November, the commemorative symposium "Creating Global Future Value in Asia" was also held. Professor Zhenjiang Hu, now the chair of the academic review committee, dedicated himself to creating the Shonan Meeting. We talked with him about its objectives, results, and his hopes for the future. Read article
Zhenjiang Hu (Professor, Information Systems Architecture Research Division, National Institute of Informatics)
There is a famous film called "Powers of Ten". It's a short film—less than 10 minutes long—that was made in 1968, but is a classic science film that remains fresh no matter how often one sees it. It begins by showing a single square meter of park, where a person is enjoying a picnic. Read article
Akiko Aizawa (Professor, Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division, National Institute of Informatics)
The Great East Japan Earthquake has dramatically boosted the public's consensus of energy saving. Office buildings imposed restrictions on activating personal computers, and research institutions accepted to partially shutdown their supercomputers which are the heart of big-science research tools. Now is the time to investigate NII's research on energy-saving ICT equipment and its impact on the world.Read article
Michihiro Koibuchi (Associate Professor, Information Systems Architecture Science Research Division, NII)Kayoko Yamamoto (Editorial Writer & Senior Staff Writer The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Ltd.)
Emission rights trading currently takes place among a limited number of major businesses. NII is working to develop a system with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags and barcodes to make this system open to general consumers. NII Today looks at a demonstration trial that took place at a supermarket in February 2011.Read article
Ichiro Satoh(Professor, Information Systems Architecture Research Division, NII)
A smart grid is a next-generation electric power transmission network that capitalizes on ICT to coordinate abalance between power supply and demand and to control and optimize the power transmission volume. An Eco-Town demonstration trial is underway on the Goto Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. Incorporating electric vehiclesand intelligent transport systems into the smart grid, the trial aims to verify reduction of the total power and apower demand peak shift. This is expected to help boost local vitality and serve as a model of local energyproduction for local consumption.Read article
Hiroaki Nishi (Visiting Associate Professor, Collaborative Research Unit, NII Associate Professor, Department of System Design Engineering Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University)
In seeking to reduce the impact on the environment, the wave of going green is reaching the world ofsupercomputers and their continually growing size and power consumption. NII, Tokyo Institute of Technology andHokkaido University are jointly exploring environmental friendliness in supercomputers, which are now essential forindustry, academia, research, and daily life.Read article
Satoshi Matsuoka (Visiting Professor, Organization for Science Network Operations and Coordination, NII Professor, Global Scientific Information and Computing Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology) /Kento Aida(Professor by Special Appointment, Center for Grid Research and Development, NII)
Future Internet design has been received attention as a heart of cyber social infrastructure. A group that includesDr. Michihiro Koibuchi, an associate professor in the Information Systems Architecture Research Division, Dr. HiroakiNishi, an associate professor from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University, and Mr. Koichi Inoue, aproject researcher in the Information Systems Architecture Research Division, has discussed this theme since 2007,and now concludes that information open innovation is essential for the future Internet. NII Today arranged for ameeting of these three researchers, along with another principal member, Mr. Keisuke Iwasaki of HitachiInformation & Communication Engineering, Ltd., and asked them to talk about their commitment to the vision.Read article
Michihiro Koibuchi (Associate Professor, Information Systems Architecture Science Research Division, NII) /Hiroaki Nishi(Visiting Associate Professor, Collaborative Research Unit, NII Associate Professor, Department of System Design Engineering Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University) /Keisuke Iwasaki(Senior SpecialistHitachi Information &Communication Engineering, Ltd.) /Koichi Inoue(Project researcher, Information Systems Architecture Science Research Division, NII)
