"For real image content service, broadband networks are essential. But the largest issue is copyright protection and how digital content is to be delivered securely," said Hiroshi Yasuda, a professor at the University of Tokyo one of consortium's proposers. "Image data distribution will involve digital content, network infrastructure and terminals," Yasuda said. "But these are developed separately. Now representatives of five industries have gotten together to collaborate."

Named the Hikari Service Architecture Consortium (HSAC), professor Yasuda and five companies — Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., NEC Corp., Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) and Sharp Corp. — have formed a preparatory office for the consortium and have invited other companies, mainly carriers, manufacturers, content providers and others, to join by Dec. 22. The consortium will be established on Jan. 23.

Twelve companies have already joined or have indicated their intention to join HSAC, including Japan units of Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Nortel Networks, as well as Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu Ltd., Hitachi Ltd. and Sony Corp. The consortium will eventually have more than 100 members, the proposers said.

HSAC intends to use specifications defined by the Contents ID Forum, which released version 1.0 of its spec last March. The interface used by HSAC will maintain an ID for content through the entire content distribution path. "How clearly and securely can copyrighted digital content be conveyed through the network? This is an intellectual property management scheme over the network," said Yasuda. The consortium will provide the scheme to manage intellectual property but won't define any of the encryption or watermarks to protect content, which will be chosen by content providers.

"We are planning to complete the interface conditions within one year," said Yasuda. The preparatory office plans to compile an interim draft by July 2001 and to complete interface specifications by January 2002.

Yasuda was also involved in the formation of the Contents ID Forum in August 1999, along with the University of Tokyo, NTT, Kyodo Digital Archives Organization, Dentsu Inc., Hitachi, Matsushita, Sharp Corp. and Pia Digital Communications. This group intends to standardize a "content ID" that will be embedded in digital content to provide copyright protection.

Each piece of digital content has a unique Content ID, which consists of three layers — a watermark, a header and copyright information maintained at an ID center.

Now over one year old, the Content ID Forum now has over 100 members.

Content providers may select their own watermarking technology "it is difficult to select one format as the standard; there is always someone who opposes it," said Junichi Kishigami, secretary general of the Content ID Forum.

An ID center control number is embedded as a watermark in each piece of digital content. This 16-bit data consists of an ID center number, area code and version number. A digital signature and other attribute data are added as the header. If deleted, even in malice, the embedded watermark can be traced back to the ID center to identify the content.

The Content ID Forum is holding discussions with overseas organizations about the possible universal application of a Content ID. "First, we are going to use the ID in Japan and pile up the results," said Kishigami.

A fiber future

HSAC is discussing an optical fiber network as a future prospect, as most users in Japan still depend on conventional analog telephone lines or coaxial metal cables which provide 64-kbit/s ISDN access to the Internet. NTT plans to offer ADSL service this year, "but ADSL is at most 500 kits/second and not fully satisfactory for broadband," said Shigehiko Suzuki, senior vice president of NTT. "It is not enough for networks for the next century.

"We are going to establish interfaces for optical networks in cooperation with other industry members and show what will become possible with fiber networks to stimulate demand" for fiber to the home, Suzuki said.

NTT has already extended optical fibers from backbone networks to each area node, and will begin installation of fiber optic cables in "the last mile" from the nodes to each subscribers starting next month. Installations will begin in the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas.