NTT DATA Technology Foresight 2022
NTT DATA Technology Foresight is a compass that draws upon exhaustive surveys to analyze the IT-driven conditions that point to future trends. The "Introduction" section provides a general view of the future while reviewing the ways IT has changed the world. The "Emerging Tech" section takes a deep dive into the changes happening in each area of technology and makes specific predictions about what to expect. By using IT effectively, you can gain deep insights into your business that can lead to further growth. We hope you will use these tools to assist you in formulating your business strategy.
Case Studies
- Green software and services realized through new Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) method
- An optimized society cultivated through Adaptive Bulk Search (ABS)
Green software and services realized through new Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) method
The Green Software Foundation, in which NTT DATA participates as a Steering Member, has developed the alpha version of "Software Carbon Intensity" (SCI), a method for evaluating the carbon footprint of software. NTT DATA is contributing to the achievement of a carbon neutral society through technology development that utilizes SCI to deliver green software and services.
In recent years, the effort to reduce carbon emissions has gained force globally. Within the IT field, there is a growing movement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. In the area of software development and operation, companies are investigating ways to reduce their carbon footprint, and a method of evaluation that properly reflects efforts to reduce emissions is now being sought. With this background, SCI was formulated to evaluate the carbon footprint of software operation with scores based on power and hardware usages and the carbon intensity of power usage. Use of this method makes it possible to compare the environmental burdens of software products with the same functions, and to grasp the effects of software modifications upon carbon emissions. This means of analysis can also be used to select software with a low environmental burden, and to aid in the development of software products and software operation technologies with small carbon footprints.
Through these activities, we will establish technologies and methodologies for developing and operating software that imposes a lower environmental burden. Then, by applying them to the social infrastructure, we aim to return value to society as a whole.
An optimized society cultivated through Adaptive Bulk Search (ABS)
To optimize energy utilization, distribution and other aspects of society as a whole, NTT DATA and Hiroshima University have developed "Adaptive Bulk Search" (ABS). ABS realizes versatile, high-speed calculations that make it possible to make quantitative decisions based on vast amounts of data and options.
Methods such as AI and machine learning are now bringing new vitality to efforts to use computing power to replace or assist human decision-making. Mathematical optimization is attracting attention as a means of eliciting the most appropriate choice from among a vast number of combinations, amidst a variety of tradeoffs. However, in order to solve optimization problems rapidly and accurately, you need to select the most appropriate software and hardware for each problem. Moreover, the solutions needed to efficiently solve extremely difficult optimization problems can be very expensive. With ABS, a common format can be used to input problems from various industries. And by making the relative difficulty of solving a problem less dependent on the specifics of that problem, ABS enables solutions to a wider range of issues. In addition, because ABS utilizes general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPU) products, computing speed can be increased in proportion to the number and performance of the GPUs. These features make it possible to perform calculations that are high speed and have a multiplicity of uses, further expanding the range of problems that can be handled.
NTT DATA aims to promote social development and solve social problems by elucidating the challenges and potential of a broad spectrum of calculation techniques to arrive at new computing mechanisms.
