Cloud, IPv6 and all-optical networks

With the development of technologies such as 5G and IoT, enterprise applications are fully cloud-based, which has put forward new demands on information networks. Networks are gradually becoming cloud-based, IPv6-based, and all-optical. Regarding the trend of network changes, Wei Leping, Executive Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Director of the Science and Technology Committee of China Telecom Group, shared his thoughts at the UBBF 2020 conference.

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1. Cloudification of the network

IDC predicts that by 2025, more than 90% of applications in China will be migrated to the cloud, and data centers will be fully cloud-based. As the network supporting applications, the realization of network following the cloud is the biggest driving force for cloudification.

Traditional closed and rigid networks can only achieve goals such as flexible resource allocation, agile and flexible networking, and automatic intelligent operation through cloudification. Wei Leping said, "The network itself is undergoing a deep transformation from a hardware-based architecture to a software-based, virtualized, cloud-based, and service-based architecture."

Wei Leping pointed out that "cloud-network integration is becoming the main theme." Cloud-network integration has three characteristics: integrated supply, integrated operation, and integrated service. In principle, the network is the foundation, the cloud is the core, and the network moves with the cloud. The ultimate goal is to integrate the cloud and the network.

The development of cloud-network integration is divided into three stages: "collaboration, integration, and integration."

• The first stage is cloud-network collaboration (Cordination), which is characterized by the cloud and network being basically independent of each other. Through the "docking" of the functional layers of the two, business automation activation and loading can be achieved, providing customers with one-stop service.
• The second stage is cloud-network convergence, which is characterized by the gradual convergence of cloud and network in logical architecture and common components, producing a "physical reaction" in resources and capabilities.
• The third stage is cloud-network integration, characterized by a "chemical reaction" at both the physical and logical levels. From the application perspective, the differences between the three major resources of computing, storage, and network are no longer visible.

2. IPv6-based Networks

The current status of China's operators' IPv6 networks has basically formed an end-to-end, interconnected IPv6 network system, and the traffic has exceeded T bits.

However, the key to IPv6 is traffic, and the proportion of traffic is still too low. Wei Leping pointed out that "the key to increasing IPv6 traffic lies in applications and websites."

Emerging networks such as 5G networks and the Internet of Things are mainly moving towards IPv6 single stack. IPv6+ provides a huge space for business application innovation, and has derived SRv6, flow detection, APN6, intelligence (network analysis, automatic tuning), etc.

Traditional Internet services include Web services and P2P applications, while 2B services include cloud-network integration services, high-quality Internet services, and self-operated key services.

(III) All-optical network

When video becomes the first traffic, accounting for nearly 2/3 of the backbone network; once 4K/8K ultra-high definition and VR/AR become popular, the capacity demand will increase dozens of times. The demand for low latency and high availability networks is becoming increasingly intense, which has led to the all-optical network.

The full opticalization of the network is not only a dream, but also the only reliable way out!

Over the past few decades, the capacity of optical networks has increased by more than 400,000 times, with an annual growth rate of about 35%; during the same period, the bit cost of optical networks has dropped by about 250,000 times, with an annual decrease of about 20%; during the same period, the network bit access fee has dropped by about 300,000 times, with an annual decrease of about 30%.

It is reported that the global FTTH household penetration rate is only about 40%, which means there is huge room for development. The FTTH household penetration rate in China is as high as 85%, which still has room for development.

The extension from FTTH to FTTR, FTTD and even FTTT can be likened to the extension from the doorstep or information box to the house, desktop and even various terminals.

As operators' business scope gradually shifts from 2C to 2B, fiber to the campus (FTTCampus) and fiber to the factory (FTTFactory) and even the workshop will gradually become important optical network 2B markets in the future.

With the expansion of 2C to 2B market, the PON bit pipe as the bearer layer of FTTH/0 is evolving into a service pipe - industrial PON after appropriate transformation.

Since the operation of China's first backbone ROADM network (middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River), it has saved 30-50% of costs, about 50% of energy consumption and space, greatly improved service configuration efficiency, minimized latency, and achieved direct wavelength access with one hop.

This marks the beginning of the all-optical network's transition from 1.0 (all-optical fiber network, which currently covers 85% of households) to a new era of all-optical network 2.0 (all-optical automatic scheduling).

In 2020, the CTC backbone network will be fully upgraded from point-to-point chain DWDM to a mesh-based dynamic all-optical network, thus fully moving towards the all-optical network 2.0 era at the backbone level.