Japan-based NTT Corporation and Olympus Corporation have announced that the two companies have jointly begun a demonstration experiment of a cloud endoscopy system that enables image processing on the cloud.

This cloud endoscopy system utilises Olympus' advanced technology for endoscopes to perform image processing, which has been conventionally processed within the endoscopic equipment, on a remote cloud. This has been difficult to achieve with conventional network technology.

NTT's Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) APN technology makes it possible to process images in real-time on the cloud. Through this demonstration experiment, the two companies will establish a reference model for the commercialisation of the cloud endoscopy system, overcome the current limitations of processing performance of endoscopic equipment, improve maintainability, and provide a flexible and rapid market response to the market.

NTT will consider expanding use cases, such as promoting the use of other medical devices on the cloud, based on the knowledge gained from the demonstration experiment. Olympus will apply the results of this study and continue to study advanced technologies using IOWN technology, such as the cloud endoscopy system, that contribute to solving customer needs or problems.