IOWN Global Forum

Overview

IOWN Global Forum (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) is a global community driving full-stack, end-to-end infrastructure innovation leveraging the evolution of optical communication and device technologies. Unlike layer-specific optical standards bodies (OIF, Open ROADM, TIP Open Optical Packet Transport), IOWN's scope spans the entire stack from optical transport through packet forwarding to accelerated computing.

As of July 24, 2025, IOWN had 168 members: 37 Sponsor Members, 110 General Members, 21 Academic/Research Members, and Affiliate Members. Sponsors include technology companies (Accenture, Cisco, Dell, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Google, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, NVIDIA, Oracle, SK Telecom, Sony) and enterprise adapters (Toyota, Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Morgan Stanley), with approximately 40% of membership based outside Japan.

IOWN's three-layer infrastructure co-evolution framework consists of: Open All-Photonic Network (Open APN) for capillarized optical transport; Deterministic Network (DN) for packet forwarding with deterministic QoS; and Data-Centric Infrastructure (DCI) for multi-site accelerated computing. The forum pursues adoption through a structured path: use-case identification → subsystem definition → reference system designs → POC → proof-of-value (POV) → proof-of-business (POB) including techno-economic analysis. IOWN has launched a new AI accelerator interconnect work item targeting scale-up and scale-out using co-packaged optics combined with optical circuit switches, and has identified alignment with OCP's newly launched OCS subgroup.