"Our efforts are for the good of the people, the community and the future. In any age, our mission is to give a form to 'tomorrow'."

Our mission started with the creation of a network that connects people to people. Our continuing future-focused challenge has been to evolve the network, produce a mechanism to connect people with information, and develop and expand multimedia. Our mission is now looking to the first half of the 21st century, when multimedia will flourish. It will see information being shared over the network, at cybershops and in the form of digital cash. To make this vision of well-developed "Information Sharing Society" a reality, NTT is meeting the challenge of developing more convenient and versatile services, and researching into a secure and low-cost, high-speed network that will support these services.

Era of recovery For national development of telecommunications technology (1948-1965)

1948 Electrical Communication Laboratory (ECL), the Ministry of Communication, inaugurated. 1950 Mass production of No.4 Telephone Set. 1953 Nationwide introduction of coin payphone 1954 Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka microwave link put in service. 1959 Commercial introduction of crossbar switching system. 1961 Commercial introduction of 12-M Coaxial System. 1962 Commercial introduction of PEF loop cables. 1963 Commercial introduction of 600-Type Telephone Set. Prototype of small-diameter coaxial cable. 1965 Commercial introduction of PCM-24 Transmission Systems in Tokyo and Osaka

Era of growth For world-class offering of new telecommunication services (1966-1985)

1966 Boundary layer capacitor commercialized. 1969 Inauguration of electronic switching system (DEX-2). 1972 Field test of DIPS-1 information processing system started. 1977 Prototype 64-kbit VLSI memory developed. Development of an automobile telephone system. 1978 Successful field test of a short-distance optical fiber transmission system. Field test of digital data switching system started. 1979 One-chip LSI for PARCOR speech synthesizer developed. Prototype of 256-kbit VLSI memory developed. 1980 Successful development of ultrapure light-emitting fiber. 3.2-GB magnetic disk unit (PATTY) completed. 1981 Successful development of magnetic card payphones. Prototype of 32-bit VLSI processor developed. New Facsimile Communications Service started. 1982 Successful development of single-mode optical fiber cable by VAD. Electronic telephone sets developed. Successful field test of a submarine optical fiber cable transmission system. 1984 Prototype 1-Mbit LSI memory developed. Operation for Model INS System started in Mitaka and Musashino districts. 1985 Digital switching system (D 70 with digital interface) commercialized. DIPS-11/5E Series developed. Field test on F-1.6G ultrahigh-capacity optical fiber transmission system started. Large-capacity packet switching system (D 51) put in service.

Era of transition from competition to cooperation World leadership and cooperation into the 21st century (1986-1998)

1986 Electronic directory assistance service started. Successful field test of 256 QAM digital microwave system. 1987 Successful experiment of ultrahigh-capacity light wave communication at 4 Gbps over a distance of 200 km. Prototype of ballistic carrier transistor (BCT) developed. Successful development of oxide superconductor single-crystal thin-film. 1988 High-speed data encryption LSI, FEAL-8, developed. Narrow spectral line width multielectrode array DFB laser developed. 1989 Prototype of a new transistor using quantum thin line developed. Successful field test of a new optical transmission system using fiber optical amplifier. Ultrahigh-speed compound semiconductor transistor for optical transmission developed. 1990 Color video CODEC for ISDN developed. 150-cc cellular phone developed. Unified specification for multi-vendor computers (MIA 1) completed. 1991 VI&P Experiment started. Electronic signature system, ESIGN, developed. SOR lithographic system for VLSI development completed. Successful on-site test of 10-Gbps optical transmission. 1992 ATM (node, link and LAN) system test started. Feasibility of spontaneous emission control diode verified. Experiment of optical fiber subscriber transmission system started. 1993 Search algorithm with application of priority-to-the-best algorithm developed. The second phase of VI&P Experiment started. Half-rate audio CODEC algorithm for mobile communications developed. 0.2-micron-level LSI basic technology established. 1994 Portable earth station for disaster developed. Collaboration support system using computer network (COGENT) developed. Ultrahigh-definition 110-inch large screen display developed. Prototype of single-electron transistor using silicon's submicroscopic structure developed. 1995 Low-power baseband generic LSI for PHS developed. Experiment of personal multimedia communication service (the third phase of VI & P) started. Successful 20-Gbps optical soliton transmission over an in-service circuit for a distance of 1000 km. Successful experiment of 400-Gbps wavelength-multiplexing, ultrahigh-speed large-capacity optical transmission using single-super light source. Validation of a new quantum mechanics effect of supercurrent that flows in a semiconductor. 1996 New nodes put in service in Science Information Network and PHS systems. New optical access system (known as p system) developed. Prototype of optical ATM switches developed, and 40-Gbps capacity achieved. Optical wavelength filter based on a new principle for tolerance to temperature changes developed. Experiment system of new, secure, reliable and efficient electronic money developed. Prototype of wristwatch-type PHS terminal with voice dialing function developed. System integration technology for highly-realistic multimedia teleconferencing system developed. 1997 Commercial introduction of new network node system started. Commercial FTTH network developed, and testing of CATV video transmission service started in Totsuka, Yokohama. Systems for cyber society, personal video broadcasting experiment station and cyber shops using the Internet developed. Image content distribution system with built-in copyright protection developed. Analog-to-digital LSI operated at one volt developed. 1998 xDSL field test started. Network-based audio system, "SolidAudio," developed. On-demand remote lecture system constructed and joint experiment started. Development test of network service between advertising and publishing industries started.