LabNotes - Theory and Application at TRL
When Kazuo Iwano - director of the Tokyo Research Laboratory since August 1995 - returned to TRL after having received his Ph.D. in computer science from Princeton University in 1987, he was appointed manager of the computer science theory group. "My goal for the group," he recalls, "was to produce a steady flow of top-level research papers." At the time, that was an appropriate goal; but as the needs of the company changed, so did the objectives of researchers worldwide.
Iwano signaled that change to his group with the adoption of a slogan: "theory and application." The challenge lay in finding the right applications. The first one came along by chance, during a visit to the IBM Yasu Development plant, where Iwano witnessed the operation of a numerically controlled drilling machine. As the drill moved from site to site, Iwano was struck by its inefficiency. From the work his own group had done on the traveling salesman problem, which seeks the shortest path by which to visit a number of cities, he knew a better approach was possible. It was. When implemented, it reduced drilling time by 15 percent and allowed Yasu to save $1 million a year.
That was not the first contribution TRL had made to development and manufacturing, but by illustrating the benefits of applied research it highlighted the importance of having close contact between IBM's research laboratories and the rest of the company. As director of TRL, Iwano has sought to strengthen those ties.
Organizationally, TRL reports to the Asia Pacific Technology Organization and has a close working relationship with its APTO partners. That is also true of IBM Japan marketing, points out Iwano. "As a result," says Iwano, "we are in a position to learn about the needs of our leading-edge customers and produce advanced solutions for them that can later be replicated for a larger customer base."
Three strategic areas
In carrying forward his mission of combining theory and application, Iwano has singled out three areas in which TRL's strengths can best be exploited.
The first is working with IBM's worldwide Industry Solution Units on advanced solutions. "It is essential that IBM's solutions differentiate themselves by their uniqueness," he says, "and that is where we hope to contribute." Already, TRL has shown that it can.
For example, a self-service loan application system features a "shared chalkboard" and videoconferencing capability. It has had the effect of making people feel more comfortable in applying for a loan, says Iwano.
Software technology is the second strategic area. Accomplishments include an improved version of a high-performance FORTRAN compiler, developed with colleagues at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center. The widely used programming language JAVA is another focus. One project is aimed at developing mobile agents, called aglets. These are small programs that may be dispatched from one computer and sent to a remote computer for execution.
TRL's third strategic area centers on mobile-centric and graphics technology. Collaboration with the Yamato ThinkPad¨ development teams has become even simpler since TRL moved to the Yamato site from its downtown Tokyo location in 1993.
The lab's low-power technology has resulted in significant power savings in the ThinkPad 760CD, providing an hour more battery life than that of competitors. The work led to the formation in April 1996 of a corporate-wide Low Power System Institute, with the aim of achieving a six-hour battery life.
Among TRL's work in computer graphics is a low-price, high-performance 3D graphics adapter board that speeds up the generation of 3D images. In another development, TRL researchers have created a graphics program that allows a person to experiment with various hair styles, by overlaying them on his or her own image in a way that takes into account individual differences of a person's skull and face. The program has also excited the interest of wig manufacturers.
Linking
Iwano regards one of TRL's roles to be a link between the Research Division and IBM's Asia Pacific activities, as well as with the marketplace. And, with the establishment of the China Research Laboratory in Beijing, TRL has taken on yet another role. "Japanese and Chinese have similar characteristics," Iwano points out, "and we will transfer our text-to-speech, digital-library and text-critiquing technologies to CRL."
Iwano would also like to contribute to society. "Technology and products are one way we can do that," he says, "but there are many others, as well. For example, we can propose ways in which to create a networked society and we can help express a vision of the possibilities such a world will make available."
