NEC Corporation produces tailored solutions for the core technologies and services required in a networked world, ranging from advanced semiconductor solutions, to large-scale mission-critical systems, systems integration, and broadband and mobile technologies. The NEC group employs more than 100,000 people with a multi-billion dollar sales volume worldwide. NEC began business in Europe in the early 1970s. Today, NEC has 19 affiliated companies in Europe alone. NEC Europe Ltd., which is wholly owned by NEC Corporation, was established in London in 1993. As a research unit wholly owned by NEC Europe Ltd., the NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH (NLE) will be involved in the MINTS project. With the focus on R&D for the next generation mobile and fixed networks, and the Future Internet, a special emphasis lies on developing and proposing solutions that meet the market needs of NEC’s European customers. More specifically, NLE is focusing on software oriented R&D required for the convergence of IT and communications, including Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Cloud Computing in order to meet the 5G service-rollout ambitions of its key European accounts. A strong focus is also placed on contributions to relevant standardization fora, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the Broadband Forum (BBF). In the context of Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking, NEC is contributing actively to the ETSI NFV groups as well as to the Open Networking Foundation (ONF).
NLE has DFS successfully participated and is participating in many EU projects, e.g. Moby Dick, Daidalos, SPICE, ANA, 4WARD, CARMEN, Trilogy, NAPAWINE, FLAVIA, ResumeNet, iJOIN, Mobile Cloud Networking (MCN), as well as various 5G-PPP projects, including SONATA, 5G-Crosshaul, NORMA or 5GTRANSFORMER project.