Two initiation speeches
October 26th, 2005
President Hiroaki Kurokawa of Fujitsu Co. Ltd on RFID, the basic technique which supports the ubiquitous network
Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. Advisor
Mr. Hiromichi Seya
Two initiation speeches were made at the meeting of October 26: The first to speak was President Hiroaki Kurokawa of Fujitsu Co. Ltd on RFID, the basic technique which supports the ubiquitous network:
The term ubiquitous network is now in common use. Ubiquitous is a Latin term meaning everywhere.
It means that information devices and semi-conductors are in place everywhere in order that you daily living becomes more convenient and safe. Corporate actions also are becoming drastically more efficient, and all this is based on RFI on which I wish to speak.
RFID is an abbreviation of Radio Frequency Identification. A semi conductor memory chip which is called an RFID tag or electronic tag with antenna and an information device automatically exchange wireless signals.
As RFID recognizes things or humans automatically it radically lessens the work humans must do with computers.
An example near at hand is the JR season pass Suica, in which a RFID chip is implanted. Only a touch is necessary at the boarding gate and cash accounts can be cleared with one touch.
It is now being increasingly in use at libraries. By placing a chip in each book, controls are now much simpler. This can be used to control printed matter for corporations and also for other goods.
In pig farming, RFID chips are placed in piglets and their growth can be recorded. We are now running trials at Narita International Airport using RFID chips to trace baggage. Chips with names and destinations are placed on bags in order that they may be traced.
Such tracing of articles is now being used in manufacturing and distribution.
Some schools use RFID by placing them on the children’s school shoulder bags. Their departure is recorded at the gate and their parents can check their whereabouts by using cell phones.
However, for RFID’s to be more widely used we must 1) reduce costs 2) making source masking more widespread 3) strengthen privacy 4) create an international standard, and 5) enhance recycling and disposal means.
The government considers 2007 to be the breaking point. Its effect on the economy in 2010 should be as a base 17 trillion yen, the worst case 9 trillion yen and at its best 31 trillion yen.
As I mentioned above, there are many challenges yet to be met, but we believe that RFIDs will radically reform our business practices and heighten our convenience in living, and we have big dreams for creating a better society through the use of IT techniques.
The second speaker was Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. Advisor Hiromichi Seya who spoke on glass: The first trace of glass made by mankind was discovered in Mesopotamia in a dig dated 4,000b.c. A small transparent piece of material was found in a place where ancient Phoenician traders seem to have built a fire.
Glass is being used in modern society in many ways due to its transparency, hardness and other qualities. Glass is being made in many ways according to its use.
Because of its ability to be transparent and shut off air, glass is used for almost every opening in modern building and structures. Some glass is made to reflect external heat, and lessen energy used for air conditioning. There are sheets of glass which have film sandwiched in between for crime prevention.
Recently glass being used in cars is made to cushion a person’s head in a car crash making it less fatal. Self cleaning glass is now becoming available.
With its optical qualities, glass is used for lenses and reflex telescopes.
Our government’s ‘Subaru’ telescope has a diameter of 8.2 meters. To polish the mirror, a 30 meter wide hole was dug in an abandoned coal mine in Pittsburgh where a polishing machine took one year to finish its job. The average margin of error for the polished surface is 14 nanometers or equal to placing one sheet of newspaper on our Yamanote Railroad Line track.
Glass is also used for making optical fibre. Television panels were made in a bent fashion, but today more and more in the form of flat panels.
As television sets are made with a vacuum inside, it was necessary to curve the surface to withstand the pressure, but today flat panel television sets are becoming more popular because of technical advances.
The use of glass fibre is becoming popular too due its unique quality.
Glass is also being used widely for decorative purposes. Beautiful glasses, chandeliers, cut glass objects are used to enrich our life in general, and looking back at our history of 4000 years. I do not believe we will find a substitute for glass in the coming 4000 years.