The era of increased traffic is here! IPv6+ development will enter a new stage in 2022

In the "Three-Year Special Action Plan to Increase IPv6 Traffic (2021-2023)", it was clearly proposed to accelerate the progress of "IPv6+" network technology innovation, technology research and development, and standard research such as IPv6 Segment Routing (SRv6), expand existing network pilots and gradually achieve large-scale deployment.

"IPv6+" is a new generation of IP network technology for the digital transformation of the industry, including protocol innovations represented by SRv6, network slicing, flow detection, BIERv6 and APN6, and technical innovations represented by network intelligence such as network analysis and automatic tuning. SRv6 refers to SR (Segment Routing) + IPv6, which is a new generation of IP bearer protocol. In other words, SRv6 is an SR technology based on the IPv6 forwarding plane.

China Mobile: G-SRv6 technology is already capable of large-scale deployment in existing networks

China Mobile, together with partners in the industry chain, solved problems such as the SRv6 technology's packet header being too long and launched G-SRv6.

Recently, China Mobile organized Huawei and other manufacturers to complete the live network pilot of the G-SRv6 technology system. The pilot using Huawei equipment was carried out in Guangdong Mobile and Henan Mobile's live networks respectively, aiming to verify the live network scale deployment capability of G-SRv6. In the end, the pilot work was successfully completed and met all expected results.

In other words: G-SRv6 technology has the ability to be deployed on an existing network scale.

It is understood that China Mobile has proposed the innovative technology G-SRv6, which can compress the SRv6 SID encapsulation to 1/4 of the original size while being compatible with the standard SRv6 protocol, solving the problem of low existing SRv6 carrying efficiency.

Moreover, before the pilot, China Mobile has organized more than ten partners to complete laboratory interoperability testing including chips, equipment, and test instruments. The verification scope covers the full functions of the G-SRv6 forwarding plane and control plane, and released the "China Mobile G-SRv6 Technology White Paper".

China Telecom: IPv6 single stack/SRv6 pilot is underway

China Telecom pioneered the development of a system networking solution for IPv6 single stack for 5G SA network to solve the problems of insufficient terminal addressing and device interconnection. It has conducted live network tests in Jiangsu and Sichuan, and has started user-friendly trials with good user experience. China Telecom said it will conduct an IPv6 single stack/SRv6 pilot, expand the scope of IPv6 single stack deployment in 5G, and gradually extend it across domains to other scenarios; expand the deployment scale of SRv6 in new metropolitan area networks, 163 and CN2, etc.

At the same time, China Telecom is also taking the lead in formulating a series of standards for multi-domain pure IPv6 networks in CCSA, participating in the formulation of SRv6, Bier6, slicing and other standards, and serving as the vice chairman of ETSI IPE ISG in ETSI.

At the end of 2021, China Telecom's first "IPv6+" medical industry slice private network was successfully launched in Anhui. This solution is based on the new generation of cloud network operation system, combined with Anhui Telecom's widely covered cloud network resources, and uses "IPv6+" segment routing SRv6 technology to realize cloud network integrated service opening. Based on SRv6 technology, a medical industry slice private network is deployed to isolate hospital cloud services from other services and provide a stable service experience.

In addition, China Telecom has also implemented 163 backbone network SRv6 to achieve latency routing, Internet of Things IPv6 micro-identification, etc.

China Unicom: This Winter Olympics is the first time that IPv6+ technology has been used in a large-scale event

In 2021, Huawei and Beijing Unicom established the "IPv6+" joint innovation laboratory and completed the first BIERv6/APN6 verification. The smart Winter Olympics network built by China Unicom for this Winter Olympics has chosen the latest network architecture, deploying key technologies such as "segment routing" (SRv6), "network slicing", and "flow detection" in the IPv6+ protocol and intelligent SDN network controllers. It has the five major advantages of intelligence, security, quality, reliability and greenness, which is in line with the "simple, safe and exciting" requirements of the Games.

During the construction of the private network, China Unicom fully considered the flexibility of the IPv6+ protocol, combined the Smart Winter Olympics private network with IPv6+ innovative technologies, and built a high-quality private network based on IPv6+ technology that can meet the high-quality, unlimited-speed access needs of more than 150,000 terminals.

It is understood that this Winter Olympics is the first application of IPv6+ technology in a large-scale event. It also proves that IPv6+ technology is suitable for large-scale, high-quality, and complex business networks, can meet users' high-quality requirements, and can provide a wonderful business experience for various applications. At present, the "Winter Olympics Smart Private Network" has taken the lead in passing the "IPv6+" test evaluation and obtained the first "IPv6+" Ready1.0 certificate in the country.

In addition, Huawei also stated that it will continue to deepen IPv6+ and promote the maturity of the industry chain from end to end. In terms of standards, it participated in 39 SRv6 protocol standard drafts and participated in 59% of the SRv6 protocol formulation, and ranked first in the number of IETF working group chairs; in terms of technology, it built leading capabilities based on slicing, SRv6, iFIT, APN, BIERv6 and other IPv6+ technologies in all aspects; in terms of industry, it participated in the establishment of the IPv6+ Innovation Promotion Group and released the industry's first IPv6+ white paper; in terms of business, it has achieved the deployment of more than 100 commercial projects worldwide and continues to lead IPv6+ business practices.