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NEC wishes to extend its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11. We sincerely hope for the earliest possible recovery of the affected regions.
NEC aims to make a significant contribution by helping Japan to rise above the disaster and to forge a new path of recovery. This section describes what NEC is doing to support those in the disaster-affected areas and other stakeholders, along with various related internal NEC Group initiatives.
* This report looks at activities in the period from immediately after the disaster to around July 2011. Many of these and other initiatives are ongoing.
As a major supplier of the IT and network solutions that underpin social infrastructure, the NEC Group aims to minimize disruption to these lifelines. The Group began providing assistance immediately after the disaster to local governments, telecommunications carriers, hospitals, corporate clients and other customers with the restoration of infrastructure systems.
For example, NEC is supporting infrastructure restoration efforts to reestablish communications, including phone exchange equipment, optical fiber networks, mobile phone base stations and submarine cable systems. NEC is also assisting with the restoration of IT systems for central and local government and corporate clients in order to maintain critical social functions such as fire and disaster prevention, broadcasting and transportation.
KIZUNA (WINDS) satellite
Most of the terrestrial public telephone network in the disasterstricken region was rendered inoperable because communications lines were brought down immediately after the disaster and thereafter.
At the request of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NEC helped to rapidly install a ground station in Iwate Prefecture for the high-speed Internet telecommunications satellite KIZUNA (WINDS)* , along with supporting communications links, so that the prefecture's various disaster response headquarters could share information and start compiling data on the safety status of local residents. This helped with the restoration of communications within the affected region.
* Launched by JAXA in 2008, the KIZUNA (WINDS) satellite can support high-resolution images and video in times of emergency or to areas with poor terrestrial network coverage using large-capacity network communications links. These network capabilities support high-quality images and video. NEC manufactured the main satellite bus for KIZUNA and the ground station.
Thin client terminal
NEC has installed virtual desktop thin client systems* to support the backbone operations for the whole of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. These ensured no data was lost, even at branch offices in Miyagi Prefecture that were damaged in the disaster, such as those in the cities of Ishinomaki and Kesennuma.
NEC made special deliveries of thin client terminals to a temporary office set up by the customer in the city of Morioka, Iwate Prefecture to resume operations. NEC also implemented the systems needed to restore data center access. This helped the customer to get the office up and running quickly.
NEC was highly commended by the customer for these actions. The customer noted, "We were able to restore our branch office operations in the affected areas and respond to customers affected by the disaster by assessing earthquake insurance claims. We were extremely pleased that we could fulfill our role as a non-life insurer."
* Thin client systems are terminals with no built-in storage media that access programs and data over a network connection.
The NEC Group has contributed to the restoration and recovery of the affected regions by donating relief money exceeding 100 million yen, along with products and services. The Group is also engaged in disaster-related social contribution activities, including volunteer programs by employees and the modification of existing programs to focus resources on helping children, people with disabilities and seniors in affected areas. Examples include holding a charity concert to raise funds for children orphaned by the disaster; relaying domestic and international events to affected areas via Internet connections as part of a program to help patients with intractable illnesses; and supplying emergency ICT services to support information sharing. Some other examples are described below.
Responding to calls from employees to help directly in the disaster-relief under the slogan of "One NEC", NEC organized a volunteer program to allow employees to help in the affected areas by clearing sludge and debris, stacking rubbish or other clean-up activities. A total of 31 employees took part in the first day of such activities on July 22 in the coastal areas of Rikuzentakata city (Iwate Prefecture).
Many local residents expressed thanks for this contribution. One resident said, "I'm pleased to see that our coastline has been restored. Thank you." The program is being extended across other parts of the region.
In partnership with UQ Communications Inc., the NEC Group has developed a system to provide seniors, children and others living in the evacuation centers in the cities of Ishinomaki and Tagajo (Miyagi Prefecture) with access to local government announcements and varied information such as updates on the nuclear power plant and weather forecasts. The system, which is free for evacuees, allows people to lodge requests or consult with local government organizations. The service began in late May 2011.
Specifically, the system comprises high-speed wireless LAN routers and Cloud Communicator mobile terminals installed with application software for delivering information and services tailored to the needs of disaster victims and local governments via a cloud-computing platform. NEC installed the equipment and is providing technical support. NEC aims to continue this program and to broaden its scope.
NEC is promoting the development of communications networks for those people in temporary housing based on the deployment of super-compact transmitters that operate on spare terrestrial digital television bandwidth. This facilitates timely sharing of information from local government organizations or other public agencies, and also enables community development among residents. Field tests involving an NPO and local residents were conducted successfully in the town of Watari (Miyagi Prefecture) from June to July 2011, paving the way for the system's full deployment.
NEC introduced the One NEC Business Continuity Support System in 2007 as a way of confirming employee safety. The system integrates the administration of safety confirmation data obtained from emails sent from mobile phones and PCs, and information from ID card readers that have been installed on each floor of the company.
NEC used this system immediately after the earthquake struck to confirm quickly the safety of all employees, not only in those areas most affected, but also across all of its plants and offices in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
NEC began sending emergency supplies of food, drinking water and daily necessities on March 12. These supplies helped the employees and their 13,000 family members, allowing them to focus on restoring business operations quickly with peace of mind.
A total of 77 facilities operated by 30 NEC Group firms were damaged in the disaster. The five NEC Group plants in the Tohoku region were subject to intense shaking (of around 6- to 6+ on the Japanese scale of seismic intensity). While there were no personal injuries or fatalities, the disaster halted production at these sites because of damage to production lines and the cutting-off of power, water, gas and other infrastructure within the plants. Employees found it difficult to commute. Damage to roads, traffic restrictions, shortages of fuel and other factors affected the distribution networks, stopping product shipments from plants and warehouses as well as the procurement of materials and other operations.
NEC established the NEC Group Emergency Operational Task Force nine minutes after being struck by this unprecedented disaster. Headed by the president of NEC, the task force initiated business restoration support measures in line with existing contingency plans. Separate task forces were established for each business unit (BU) and operating site to ensure that the NEC Group could rapidly implement operational restoration efforts in a seamlessly coordinated manner.
NEC collected data on the status of all NEC Group companies and related infrastructure in the disaster-affected and adjacent
areas of the country by utilizing the One NEC Business Continuity Support System. This enabled vital information to be relayed
in real time to the people concerned.
Damage to NEC Group's production lines and plants in the Tohoku region was minor on account of seismic proofing work undertaken during earlier production innovation activities, based on previous earthquake experience. Production restarted at all plants by March 23 as the result of the hard work of all employees.
On the logistics side, the related NEC Group company set up a hub to handle distribution within the Tohoku region and then began the construction of an emergency logistics network. Distribution sites in Kanto temporarily assumed the functions of the damaged distribution facilities in the region, which enabled the logistics network to be restored at the same time as the production facilities.
In this way, NEC was able to continue its business operations via the timely execution of its business continuity plan (BCP), which had been regularly put through repeated simulations in preparation for a disaster. However, a large number of problems still emerged owing to the large scale of the disaster compared with the BCP risk assumptions. An unexpected issue was the extensive area affected, which led to damage across plants, distribution centers, suppliers, sales and maintenance bases, causing restoration-related problems. The large aftershocks also continued to affect social infrastructure, leading to further delays in the normalization of product supplies to customers. NEC plans to update its BCP to incorporate the emergency measures that were put in place to solve such issues.
Earlier preventive measures meant damage to NEC's internal information systems was also relatively minor. These systems are installed in seismic-proofed data centers where all of the systems for monitoring the operations of servers and intranet equipment are located. Although some data centers were in areas that were affected by Tokyo Electric Power Company's rolling blackouts, NEC's use of emergency back-up generators ensured that all of its IT systems and service operations continued to function.
NEC has formulated new internal rules for earthquakes with a Japanese intensity scale of at least 5+. Periodic emergency training based on these rules has been instituted. The lessons learned from everyday disaster training drills helped NEC to assess and restore IT operational functions rapidly.
Public transport stoppages made it difficult for many NEC Group employees in Tokyo to commute to work following the disaster. NEC quickly supplied employees with a software-based thin client service solution (that enables an ordinary PC to boot up from a CD-ROM) to facilitate telecommuting.
In line with government plans to restrict the power demand over the summer months, the NEC Group has instituted the following measures aimed at cutting its maximum power consumption within the service areas of Tokyo Electric and Tohoku Electric by 15% compared with fiscal 2011 levels. These actions include and supplement earlier energy-saving measures.
The first approach is to use alternative energy sources. After confirming CO2 emissions, we utilize cleaner energy sources such as gas instead of electricity. Switching is expected to generate substantial energy savings, notably with air-conditioning systems.
A second approach for facilities within the Tokyo Electric service area is to institute a rotation of fixed holiday periods. This measure will exclude a number of plants to minimize the impact on production. Offices and other sites will be divided into four groups, with each group of sites closing for two one-week periods on rotation during July–September. Some public holidays will be substituted so that total working time is not reduced and the system causes minimal disruption to NEC's customers and the public. Thin client systems and other measures will also be adopted to enable employees to work at those sites not subject to rotating closure.
NEC is making energy consumption more visible by enabling power usage to be viewed on the intranet in near-real time. This will help to optimize energy-saving initiatives by raising employee awareness of energy use.
In addition, NEC is continuing to develop contingency plans for further energy cuts in emergency situations, including the use of back-up generators and emergency stoppages of equipment.
"Establishing a safe and secure society" is one of NEC's important CSR initiatives.
In line with
NEC's mission of creating "an information society friendly to humans and the earth," as set forth in the
"NEC Group Vision 2017," the NEC Group is engaged in Japan's recovery from the twin perspectives of business
continuity and saving energy.
With respect to business continuity, the NEC Group is leveraging its strengths in IT and networks and related experience to help rebuild communications infrastructure and to devise contingency plans in preparation for future natural disasters. NEC is also working to create a safe and secure society based on the development and operation of cloud computing systems and ICT infrastructure to facilitate network-based usage of information systems.
With respect to saving energy, NEC aims to contribute through energy-efficient products such as energy storage
systems (based on automotive rechargeable lithium-ion battery technology), energy management systems for commercial facilities,
buildings and homes, and energy-efficient servers.
NEC plans to refine technical and solutions expertise based on experience developed through activities aimed at
recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake, with the view of creating a more energy-efficient, safe and secure society.
NEC will also strive to provide more precise disaster prevention and mitigation information using high-performance sensors
and cloud- computing technology. Through these measures, we hope to contribute to realizing an “information society friendly
to humans and the earth” as "One NEC."
