The AKARI Architecture Design Project was a project for designing a new generation

computer network A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

architecture supported by the

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology The is Japan's primary national research institute for information and communications. It is located in Koganei, Tokyo, Japan. NICT was established as an Independent Administrative Institution in 2004 when Japan's Communications Research Labo ...

(NICT) of Japan. The name "AKARI" indicates "A small light in the dark pointing to the future" and it comes from the Japanese word ''Akari'', which means "a small light". Launched in May 2006, the AKARI Project investigated technologies for new generation network by 2015, developing a network architecture and creating a network design based on that architecture. AKARI is also denoted as a

Future Internet Future Internet is a general term for research activities on new architectures for the Internet. History While the technical development of the Internet was an extensive research topic from the beginning, an increased public awareness of severa ...

project. The members of the AKARI Project came from NICT and some other universities or companies such as

Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

Osaka University The , abbreviated as UOsaka or , is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university in Osaka, Japan. The university traces its roots back to Edo period, Edo-era institutions Tekijuku (1838) and Kaitokudō, Kaitokudo (1724), ...

Tokyo Institute of Technology The Tokyo Institute of Technology () was a public university in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. It merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University to form the Institute of Science Tokyo on 1 October 2024. The Tokyo Institute of Technology was a De ...

and NTT. In 2008, they produced a conceptual design book, which describes their philosophy to pursue an ideal solution by researching new network architectures from a clean slate without being impeded by existing constraints. English translation To some extent, the AKARI Project was similar to the

Global Environment for Network Innovations The Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) was a facility concept explored by the United States computing community with support from the National Science Foundation. The goal of GENI was to enhance experimental research in computer netw ...

(GENI) facility of USA and many of the

Seventh Framework Programme The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

s (FP7) of EU such as the

Future Internet Research and Experimentation Future Internet Research and Experimentation (FIRE) is a program funded by the European Union to do research on the Internet, its prospects, and its future, a field known as "future Internet". History Some researchers met with government official ...

. Conferences were held in June 2007, January 2008, June 2008, and June 2010. The project updated a web site through 2011, and removed the site by 2013.

References

{{Reflist Network architecture Osaka University research