NTT to Offer Less Power-hungry Server, with AI Set to Bring Boom Times

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:01 JST, December 13, 2024

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. plans to start marketing a new type of server as early as fiscal 2026 that uses IOWN, a next-generation communications infrastructure based on optical technology that allows servers to use nearly 90% less power.

The new server is intended for data centers, which are expected to see increased demand with the spread of artificial intelligence. The server is expected to be unveiled at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, which opens in April.

IOWN is a technology that replaces the electrical signals used for communication and computing in electronic devices with optical signals. This significantly reduces power consumption.

The new server saves on power by replacing electricity with light for some of the signal processing that connects the internal circuit boards.

By using the server at an Expo pavilion, NTT hopes to promote the server to both Japanese and foreign audiences. The company plans to use AI to read visitors’ emotions from their facial expressions, and move the fabric that will cover the pavilion according to how people are feeling. It also plans to use servers in the pavilion to process large amounts of data for the AI.

“IOWN will help keep the earth sustainable. Data centers, where servers are concentrated, are businesses that use large amounts of electricity, and this is a clear example [of how IOWN can be used],” NTT President Akira Shimada said during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.