ITU Looks Ahead to the AI Age and Optical Networks towards 2030ITU Looks Ahead to the AI Age and Optical Networks towards 2030

Today, the organization is as busy as ever, as it looks ahead to the decade of the 2030’s for ICT networks, especially as artificial intelligence becomes ubiquitous, both for end users and in how networks themselves are operated. 

Recently, Seizo Onoe, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at ITU, sat down with Light Reading’s Ken Wieland for a Win-Win Live session to discuss ITU’s work and future plans.

Onoe’s remarks covered three important related topics, namely:

Below, we’ll examine some of the most important highlights from the conversation.

Continuous development and standardization of optical network technologies

Recent ITU standards support optical transport up to 800 Gbps; for optical access, ITU standards support up to 50GPON.

Onoe stressed the importance of such standards to global interoperability, reduced costs, and optimal network performance and reliability – as well as overall industry innovation in the broadband space. ITU is currently working on the next generation of PON standards up to 100 Gbps or 200 Gbps. It’s also developing standards for in-home fiber networks to create direct fiber connections to WiFi access points.

ICT Networks & Standards in the AI Age

Onoe noted that AI and machine learning are already becoming integral to complex networks worldwide, with ITU standards supporting a variety of areas such as network orchestration, multimedia coding, and energy efficiency – a vital need given the power requirements of AI.

AI is also, of course, a vital part of the forward-looking 2030’s picture. Onoe said ITU provides a toolkit for integrating AI into future networks, but “there is more work to be done.” The organization recently launched a new ITU Focus Group to accelerate the necessary shift from AI overlays to true AI integration – also referred to as AI-native networks. 

Onoe said the group is open to all and stressed the need for input and expertise from across the industry, in part to help build consensus toward valuable future network technology standards related to AI.

Looking Forward to the 2030’s

Now, ITU is preparing for how AI and other emerging technologies will require new standards and frameworks in the future. 

ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) has already developed an IMT-2030 framework for wireless standards. Wieland asked about the likelihood of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) defining a corresponding optical standard generation for the 2030’s, effectively an optical version of IMT-2030, and developing a framework accordingly.

ITU-T Study Group 15 recently convened a workshop in Montreal, Canada, to discuss optical network standards development for IMT-2030. 

Onoe said that ITU-T is studying standards requirements for optical networks in view of IMT-2030, but that 

“optical fiber transport networks must evolve independent of the mobile generation.”

New optical standards generation can occur in parallel to – but independently of – the wireless side. “Achieving new generations is a very good goal,” Onoe said, adding that new generations must also take care of older generations in the process.

ITU is working incoordination and collaboration with a wide range of other standards bodies in support of innovation towards IMT-2030, for example 3GPP and ETSI, as well as standards bodies in the optical field such as IEEE and ETSI ISG-F5G, BBF, and IETF.

Onoe made clear that cooperation with other organizations is one of his top priorities, since such collaboration is key to maximizing overall efficiency and success throughout the industry.

“A single organization cannot do everything” required to achieve the 2030’s vision, Onoe said. “We need cooperation with other organizations.”