The WIDE Project is a global research consortium founded in 1988, based in Japan, working with partners in academia, industry, and government sectors related to Internet technology, standards, and society.
In 1986, researchers from various universities engaged in UNIX research came together to establish the WIDE Research Group. This group embarked on comprehensive research into wide-area distributed environments. Later, in 1988, the WIDE project evolved into its present-day form by establishing a collaborative framework with industry partners.
Since our establishment, we have led the Internet development in Japan and contributed to research, education, operation, and deployment of computing and communication technologies in widely distributed environments. More than 20 working groups are currently engaged in various research activities on network operation, service, and security. The WIDE Project’s contribution to the global Internet includes the M-Root DNS Server operation and hosting of the IETF meetings in Japan.
The WIDE Project also collaborates globally with universities and research institutes to develop and operate research and education networks (REN). In particular, WIDE is strongly committed to the Asia Pacific and is responsible for global core REN operations, such as ARENA-PAC. We are extending its achievements and contributions to infrastructure technology towards education in general through the SOI-Asia project, launched by the WIDE project. The SOI-Asia project works with UNESCO and other partners to develop and operate sustainable educational environments.