Keihanna Open Lab Research Computing Center

The story

Situated in the rolling green hills of the Kansai Science City (Keihanna) south of Kyoto, this specialized research data center is operated by Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). Built as the central testbed node for Japan's high-speed experimental optical network (JGN), Keihanna hosts groundbreaking trials in ultra-high-speed terabit routing, quantum communications, and distributed academic supercomputing.

Notable

• Located in the Kansai Science City (Keihanna) straddling Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara prefectures.
• Core switching node for JGN (Japan Gigabit Network), Japan's primary national research network.
• Pioneered early demonstrations of terabit optical routing and terrestrial quantum cryptography.
• Features advanced base-isolation structural engineering for complete earthquake survivability.

Expansions

• 2005: opened as national testbed for next-generation optical networking (JGN)
• 2020: upgraded with quantum key distribution (QKD) testbed and AI test environments