Standardization Initiatives for Watt-Bit Collaboration Technology Leveraging IOWN Approved at the ITU-T CxO Roundtable

News Highlights:

ITU-T CxO Roundtable

The CxO Roundtable, hosted by ITU-T (Director: Mr. Seizo Onoe), was held on November 3, 2025, in Munich, Germany, and NTT attended the meeting again this year, as it did last year. At the meeting, CxOs from telecommunication industry and ITU-T executives met to discuss priorities for various issues, as well as main areas of work relating to ITU-T standards.

Background

In recent years, the global development and expansion of AI have led to a rapid increase in demand for data center expansion, raising concerns about shortages of land and power for data centers, particularly in urban areas. In response to this, Japan established Public-Private Advisory Council on Watt-Bit Collaboration, which has proposed measures such as decentralizing data centers to rural areas and expanding the use of renewable energy.

Achieving these measures brings new challenges, including defining the interface between ICT and electricity in preparation for workload shifts⁴. Overcoming these challenges will require collaboration and optimization across the telecommunications and power industries (Watt-Bit Collaboration), making it increasingly important to implement this approach as soon as possible.

Proposals from NTT

To address the land and power shortages for data centers in urban areas, NTT proposed solutions involving expanding data centers to locations far from urban areas using IOWN, which features ultra-low latency, ultra-low power consumption, and ultra-broadband capabilities.

NTT also highlighted the need to examine solutions to these challenges and to develop the necessary international standards, based on the concept of Watt-Bit Collaboration, in order to flexibly respond to electricity demand. NTT emphasized the importance of promoting collaboration with standardization organizations in the electricity industry (such as IEC⁵) under the leadership of ITU-T Director Mr. Seizo Onoe.

As a result, CxOs from around the world and ITU-T executives endorsed the proposal, agreeing to initiate discussions on addressing the growing power demand driven by AI, including the development of international standards. This was also reflected in the official communiqué of the CxO Roundtable⁶.

Future Plans

NTT will engage in international standardization activities related to Watt-Bit Collaboration, working closely with stakeholders in Japan and abroad. In addition, NTT will promote research, development and deployment of IOWN, expected to be a key technology for realizing Watt-Bit Collaboration, and will continue contributing to international standardization efforts at ITU-T.

Attendees of the CxO Roundtable

[Glossary]

¹CxO Roundtable: A meeting where senior executives of sector members meet together, hosted by the directors of ITU-T, Mr. Seizo Onoe from Japan. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/tsbdir/CxO/Pages/CxO-Roundtable,-3-November-2025.aspx

²ITU: International Telecommunication Union (ITU） is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, for information and communication technologies. ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is responsible for coordinating standards for telecommunications and information communication technology.

³Watt-Bit Collaboration: Toward the efficient development of communications and power infrastructure, communications, data center, and power operators will work together to effectively coordinate communications and power. https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2025/0318_001.html

⁴Workload shift: Dynamically shifting computing resources and processing loads in data centers.

⁵IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international standardization organization that creates international standards in the fields of electrical and electronic technology.

⁶https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/tsbdir/cto/Documents/Communique_ITU_CxO_2025_Final.pdf

About NTT

NTT contributes to a sustainable society through the power of innovation. We are a leading global technology company providing services to consumers and businesses as a mobile operator, infrastructure, networks, applications, and consulting provider. Our offerings include digital business consulting, managed application services, workplace and cloud solutions, data center and edge computing, all supported by our deep global industry expertise. We are over $90B in revenue and 340,000 employees, with $3B in annual R&D investments. Our operations span across 80+ countries and regions, allowing us to serve clients in over 190 of them. We serve 75% of Fortune Global 100 companies, thousands of other enterprises and government clients and millions of consumers.