Review of the top ten events in the Internet industry in 2016

[51CTO.com original article] As 2016 enters the countdown stage, the brand new 2017 is coming. In order to "review the past and learn new things", the editor has counted the ten major events that happened in the network industry this year, hoping to help everyone understand the development of the network industry from a global perspective, so as to formulate a clearer development direction for the arrival of 2017. Now follow the editor to see what major events happened in the network industry in 2016!

1. Building a “cyberpower”

Fundamentally speaking, building a cyber power means transforming traditional industries through Internet technologies and models. We should not only promote "Internet + traditional industries", but also realize "traditional industries + Internet", promote the innovation and healthy development of various business models of the Internet economy, and guide the international development of Internet companies.

Comment: In July 2016, the World Economic Forum released the "2016 Global Information Technology Report" in Geneva. The report was based on the "Network Readiness Index". China ranked 59th among 139 countries, ranking in the middle of the world. This is extremely disproportionate to my country's status as the world's second largest economy. It can be seen that implementing the "Network Power" strategy and accelerating economic innovation-driven development are of great and far-reaching significance.

2. The first phase of 5G testing is completed and the second phase is launched, and my country's voice is increasing

​​

[[180188]]

In the wireless field, 5G is undoubtedly the biggest hot spot this year. my country took the lead in launching 5G technology research and development trials in January 2016, which were divided into three stages: key technology verification, technical solution verification, and system solution verification. In September 2016, the first phase of the 5G technology research and development test was successfully completed, and the performance and function tests of 5G wireless and network key technologies were completed, including: 7 wireless key technologies such as large-scale antennas, new multiple access, new multi-carrier, and high-frequency band communications, as well as 4 network key technologies such as network slicing and mobile edge computing. . There are a total of 7 manufacturers participating in the first phase of the test, including Huawei, ZTE, Datang Telecom, Ericsson, Nokia, Shanghai Bell, Intel, and Samsung.

It is expected that by September 2017, China will carry out the second phase of system verification testing for 5G R&D technology trials. The second phase of testing will be based on unified equipment specifications and test specifications and will be conducted for typical 5G scenarios.

Comment: In 2016, people felt that 5G had stepped out of the "laboratory" and began to be implemented. Chinese industry chain partners responded positively, and Chinese companies further enhanced their voice in 5G.

3. Entering China, it was eventually lost in local payment

​​

In 2016, Apple Pay officially landed in China. Users could pay at POS machines with the UnionPay QuickPass logo, and the payment only took one or two seconds. At that time, debit and credit cards from 19 banks supported Apple Pay. At that time, the circle of friends was almost flooded with pictures of Apple Pay payments.

Then a year passed, and Appy Pay seemed to fade out of people's sight quietly, while local payment methods such as WeChat Pay, Alipay, and Huabei firmly occupied people's wallets.

Comments: Apple Pay has a huge fan base, support from major businesses in the industry chain, and a huge brand effect, so why is it still not as good as local payment? The editor believes that the main reason is the disconnection between payment and application. WeChat platform’s micro-business micro-stores and Alipay’s word-of-mouth takeaways all tightly bind payment to applications, and users have been quietly cultivated to bind payment habits.

4. AlphaGo leads the AI ​​hurricane

​​

In March this year, the AI ​​Go robot AlphaGo challenged the world Go champion Lee Sedol and won an overwhelming victory with a total score of 4 to 1. A wave of AI quickly swept across China, with Baidu launching its driverless car and Sogou launching its Zhiyin interactive engine. Since then, Internet giants have naturally not been willing to be absent and have begun to make plans. Tencent News wants to use AI to help write articles, JD.com will apply AI to logistics and transportation, Alibaba will apply AI to the Double 11 shopping carnival, and NetEase will use AI to improve customer service efficiency.

Comments: From social networking, e-commerce to logistics, and driverless cars, artificial intelligence is penetrating more and more industries and fields. If you want to seize the development opportunities in the future, you must actively embrace artificial intelligence technology. However, in 2016, the level of machine learning needs to be deepened, and "artificial intelligence" products lack real highlights. I hope that in 2017, this field can be less gimmicky and more pragmatic.

5. NB-IoT standards will be completed and the development of the Internet of Things will take off

​​

[[180189]]

On June 16, 2016, at the 72nd 3GPP RAN Plenary Meeting held in Busan, South Korea, the relevant contents of the 3GPP protocol corresponding to NB-IoT were approved and frozen by the RAN Plenary Meeting, marking the completion of all research related to the core protocol of the NB-IoT standard. 3GPP expects that the relevant performance indicators and terminal consistency test standards will be completed in December this year.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a NB-IoT work promotion meeting in April this year, proposing to cultivate the NB-IoT industry chain and requiring the construction of a large-scale field environment based on NB-IoT by the end of the year. The above signals mean that NB-IoT has the basic conditions for large-scale commercial use in China at the beginning of 2017. The industry unanimously believes that 2017 will be the first year for large-scale commercial use of NB-IoT in China.

Comment: The food and fodder must be prepared before the troops move. Now that the standards have been determined, the commercial trajectory of NB-IoT is becoming increasingly clear, and a feast of the Internet of Things is about to begin.

6. A wave of online storage shutdowns is coming

​​

On the evening of October 20, 360 Cloud Disk announced that it would shut down its personal cloud disk. To prevent data from being cleared, a large number of netizens began to enter "download mode", which once caused a peak in access and downloads on 360 Cloud Disk, resulting in network congestion, a serious impact on download speeds, and the download service was almost paralyzed.

There are quite a few online storage services that have been shut down this year. Sina iAsk, Tencent WeCloud, Kingsoft QuickPan, and Weipan have all suspended their use.

Comment: Objectively speaking, it is only a matter of time before the free network disk is shut down. At first, it attracted a large number of users by offering free services, but later it was found that when the user scale expanded, the company needed to invest a lot of money and manpower to maintain the normal operation of the cloud disk, and there were also infringement issues. The monetization method could not stand up to scrutiny. Under multiple pressures, closing down was a dead end.

The closure of the online disk this time is a good purification and return to rationality process for the entire industry. In 2017, I hope that the online disk with a new idea can start again!

7. After much anticipation, the Cybersecurity Law was finally issued

​​

[[180190]]

On the morning of November 7, the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress passed the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Cybersecurity Law) with 154 votes in favor and 1 abstention. The law will come into effect on June 1, 2017. The law further defines the scope of critical information infrastructure; stipulates corresponding punishment measures for foreign organizations and individuals that attack and destroy my country's critical information infrastructure; and adds provisions for punishing new types of network crimes such as network fraud.

Comment: Compared with traditional fields, regulation in the Internet field can be described as a "wilderness". The "Cybersecurity Law" has broken through numerous obstacles and cleared the clouds, and is considered by industry experts to have opened up a new situation for the development of a cyber power.

8. 2016 SDN/NFV ignites the International Communications Exhibition and enters the China live network pilot stage

​​

[[180191]]

SDN/NFV is a very popular term in the network industry in 2016, and it has become the focus of the whole venue at the International Communications Exhibition. Unlike the previous stage of discussion, SDN/NFV entered the pilot stage of China's live network in 2016, and the focus of discussion also revolved around implementation, such as "SDN/NFV and intelligent operation", "SDN/NFV key technology breakthroughs and challenges", "SDN/NFV future network infrastructure construction", "SDN/NFV commercial use", "SDN/NFV and optical communication", "SDN/NFV and cloud data center", etc.

Comment: In recent years, with the development of the Internet, the business of telecom operators is undergoing major changes. Finding more flexible, efficient and low-cost network architecture solutions has become the focus of operators. As a new type of network architecture, SDN/NFV advocates software and virtualization, which can comprehensively break through the existing network difficulties and provide operational guarantees for this demand. In the near future, the network revolution triggered by SDN and NFV architecture and technology will become the core of telecom operators' competitiveness and profitability.

9. The opening test of the 13th Five-Year Plan: the popularization of broadband network technology is accelerating

​​

[[180192]]

In 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology continued to work with relevant departments to implement the "13th Five-Year Plan" outline, implement the "Broadband China" special action, optimize and improve broadband development policies, guide enterprises to increase investment in broadband construction and broadband application innovation, and promote the rapid development of broadband network technology applications in my country.

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that as of December 15 this year, more than 100 cities have built optical networks, accounting for about one-third of my country's prefecture-level cities; the task of promoting optical fiber access to 50,000 administrative villages proposed in the "Government Work Report" has also been completed ahead of schedule. In terms of 4G networks, 696,000 new 4G base stations have been built, reaching a total of 2.467 million, accounting for more than half of the world's 4G base stations. As of the third quarter of 2016, the penetration rate of fixed broadband households in my country reached 59.6%, and the penetration rate of mobile broadband users reached 67.7%, and broadband popularization has achieved significant results.

On the other hand, network speed has doubled, and the proportion of high-speed broadband users has reached the world's leading level. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of December 15 this year, the average access speed of fixed broadband reached 42Mbps, more than twice that of the end of 2015; the proportion of fiber-optic broadband users reached 72%, an increase of 16 percentage points from the end of 2015. In terms of mobile broadband, 4G users accounted for 54% of mobile users, far exceeding the global average of 20%.

Comment: The speed increase of broadband is a very typical network phenomenon. Behind the speed increase lies the rapid growth of video services, the enrichment of personal smart applications, the great efforts of network equipment manufacturers, and the vigorous development of the Internet... In short, after accelerating the construction of the new generation of information technology infrastructure, 5G research and development and commercial use, the evolution of the industrial Internet, and the commercial use and deployment of the next generation of Internet will all accelerate development like dominoes.

10. China successfully launches the world's first quantum science experimental satellite "Micius"

​​

[[180193]]

At 1:40 a.m. on August 16, 2016, my country successfully launched the world's first quantum science experimental satellite "Micius" into space using the Long March 2D carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. This will enable my country to achieve quantum communication between satellites and the ground for the first time in the world, and build a quantum secure communication and scientific experiment system that integrates the earth and the sky.

The quantum satellite was approved in December 2011 and is one of the first scientific experimental satellites of the CAS Space Science Pilot Project. Its main scientific goals are to conduct satellite-to-ground high-speed quantum key distribution experiments and, on this basis, to conduct wide-area quantum key network experiments, in order to achieve major breakthroughs in the practical application of space quantum communications; and to conduct quantum entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation experiments on a spatial scale, in order to verify the theory of quantum mechanics on a spatial scale.

Comment: Quantum communication has been talked about for so many years, and finally we have heard some substantive news. Although quantum communication is still far from the lives of ordinary people, the editor believes that the security of quantum natural genes in the future will bring a breath of fresh air to the current status of the network security industry.

[51CTO original article, please indicate the original author and source as 51CTO.com when reprinting on partner sites]