The progress of digitization and multimedia in the telecommunications industry has made indispensable expansion of business on a global scale, increasing the intensity of competition in domestic and global markets even among major carriers. Such a climate calls for research and development to support global telecommunications operations that will directly bear the brunt of this competition, providing a driving force in the global information sharing industry. Research and development is currently underway at a global level that would support the growth of the global telecommunications business of NTT, foster collaborative approach to cope with the global demands, creating a community for long-term research, and create technologies that would provide de facto global standards. This research and development is also to create an environment for cooperative experimentation to promote the activities just mentioned. Before continuing with this special feature on the Global Electrum Cyber Society/Global Megamedia Network (ECS/GMN) testbed (GEMnet), this paper discribes a summary of its goals, recent activities and outline plans for the future.