How do the three major operators promote cloud-network integration?

In recent years, with the rapid development of cloud computing and the full launch of 5G construction, "cloud-network integration" has become the focus of attention in the industry. Especially in 2020, the country has taken "new infrastructure" as a strategic development direction, and cloud-network integration has become an important practice in the new infrastructure era, which naturally has become more eye-catching.

It is no exaggeration to say that everyone is talking about cloud-network integration at the moment. Operators and major cloud service providers have also elevated it to a certain strategic level and started to continuously carry out relevant practices of cloud-network integration. Among them, operators attach even greater importance to cloud-network integration and have expressed the importance of cloud-network integration on many occasions without hesitation.

"In the construction of new infrastructure, in addition to 5G, big data centers and AI, cloud computing is also indispensable. Cloud-network integration is the digital foundation of new infrastructure." said Li Yunzhuang, deputy general manager of the Cloud Computing Branch of China Telecom Corporation Limited.

Qi Ji, deputy general manager of the Cloud Network Management Product Department of China Mobile's Cloud Capability Center, believes that "5G+ cloud network integration will provide a powerful engine for the digital transformation and upgrading of various industries in the wave of digitalization, relying on China Mobile's powerful 5G network, data centers across cities and ecological aggregation capabilities."

Tang Xiongyan, chief scientist of China Unicom Research Institute, pointed out: "Cloud-network integration is the foundation of digital transformation. In the new information infrastructure, cloud and network are two key elements, and the two will coexist and grow together, complement each other and promote each other."

From the statements of the three major operators, it is not difficult to see that cloud-network integration is an important driver for accelerating the digital transformation of all industries in the era of "new infrastructure". It can be predicted that the combination of 5G and cloud computing will better support the development of vertical industries, evolve towards the integration of mobile and cloud, and the integration of things and cloud, accelerate industry applications, and promote the interconnection of all things.

Since cloud-network integration is so important, it is obvious that the three major operators attach great importance to it. So how do they make efforts and layout? What advantages do they have and what progress have they made?

China Telecom: Promoting the development of cloud-network integration in all aspects

It is reported that China Telecom is the earliest telecommunications operator to deploy cloud computing and has achieved some phased results in the field of cloud computing. Since the release of Tianyi Cloud 3.0 products and services in 2016, China Telecom has formed differentiated advantages such as cloud-network integration, security and reliability, and exclusive customization through comprehensive technology and service upgrades.

In 2017, China Telecom first determined the national overall layout of "2+31+X". At present, China Telecom is realizing the cloud resource pool layout of "2+4+31+X+O". Among them, "2" refers to two large-scale central data centers covering the whole country; "4" refers to the deployment of regional nodes in the four key areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Chongqing; "31" means that each province has a data center; "X" refers to the widely distributed edge nodes, which are deployed at the access level closest to users, so as to realize the network following the cloud, convenient cloud access, and smooth access between clouds, and meet the user's on-demand selection and low latency requirements; "O" refers to overseas nodes to deploy overseas business.

In February of this year, China Telecom started construction of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Big Data Base; in March, China Telecom launched the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area 5G Cloud Computing Center" project. In addition, China Telecom will also focus on the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Big Data Base, Beijing and Guizhou Information Parks and 9 provincial data center parks directly under the group, with a total construction scale of approximately 884,000 square meters and an investment scale of approximately 4.5 billion. Among them, the construction area started this year reached 740,000 square meters. In addition to the actions in infrastructure, in order to adapt to the development trend of cloud-network integration, China Telecom has adjusted its organizational structure, officially announced the abolition of the Network Operation and Maintenance Division and the Enterprise Informatization Division, and established the Cloud Network Operation Department (Data Center). In addition, for this year's campus recruitment, China Telecom mainly focuses on increasing the introduction of graduates in key business areas such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, Internet finance, artificial intelligence, and network information security, involving professional positions in emerging fields reaching 40% of the total job demand.

In addition, China Telecom actively practices the integrated application of 5G+ cloud network and has created application scenario models such as smart manufacturing and smart energy to accelerate the digital transformation of the industry and empower the digital economy.

In summary, in the process of promoting the cloud-network integration development practice of "network as the foundation, cloud as the core, network follows the cloud, and cloud and network are integrated", China Telecom has formed four unique advantages in the cloud-network integration layout: hierarchical layout of cloud, cloud-edge collaboration, network following the cloud, and cloud-network integrated security.

As a super-large state-owned enterprise and a main force in informatization, especially as the national team of cloud computing, China Telecom will also undertake the new infrastructure strategy through its resource advantages, service advantages, and security advantages.

China Mobile: Launching "5G+Cloud" product layout

Cloud business is the key entry point for China Mobile to achieve breakthroughs in government and enterprise business. Among them, the "cloud transformation" is an important step for China Mobile to shift to value-based management, and it is also a key step in achieving cloud-network integration.

It is reported that China Mobile has reconstructed the cloud-network architecture for the ToB market and continued to build cloud-network-edge industry-specific networks. Combined with the N+31+X mobile cloud layout, it proposed a cloud-network integration strategy of "one cloud, one network, and integrated services", as well as 8 5G SA network clouds, to give full play to the resource advantages of cloud-network integration; promote the deep integration of cloud + network IT systems, and gradually form a centralized, digital, intelligent, and refined operation and maintenance system that runs through the cloud, network, and edge.

In addition, China Mobile, guided by the principle of "comprehensively improving quality, strengthening business orientation, and highlighting differentiated characteristics", relies on the differentiated advantages of basic networks, edge access and 5G+ to deepen the "cloud-network integration" product capabilities, and has launched the "5G+cloud" product layout. It has planned a "5G+cloud" multi-scenario cloud access solution, including end-edge network, edge-cloud network, edge-edge network, and edge-end network, and has built an integrated cloud-network-edge integration capability with "perfect layout, intensive resources, advanced architecture, diverse computing power, and independent controllability."

According to reports, the integration of mobile edge cloud and network is mainly promoted from the following three aspects: local traffic diversion, network slicing and cloud private network. The sinking deployment of the 5G core network user plane network element UPF can be effectively combined with the mobile edge cloud to achieve high-speed diversion of 5G uplink and downlink traffic to the edge public cloud through the edge 5G network for local data processing; the mobile cloud edge service can be connected with the 5G slicing service platform to open up the business process and realize on-demand subscription of network slicing services for some public cloud services with special requirements for network quality; in addition, by creating cloud private network products and providing dedicated line product subscription services for mobile edge cloud, dynamic interconnection and interoperability of cloud-edge and edge-edge networks can be achieved.

China Mobile said that in the wave of digitalization, the integration of 5G+ cloud network will provide a powerful engine for the digital transformation and upgrading of various industries by relying on China Mobile's powerful 5G network, data centers across various cities, and ecological aggregation capabilities.

China Unicom: Cloud networking safeguards the digital transformation of the industry

As early as 2018, China Unicom launched seven major products including Cloud Internet, Cloud Networking, Cloud Dedicated Line, Cloud Broadband, Unicom Cloud Shield, Video Intelligence Boutique Network, and Financial Boutique Network, striving to build a new cloud-network integration ecosystem by getting close to users and deploying cloud resources across borders.

In order to meet the growing demand for cloud services in the market, China Unicom, relying on its own network advantages, has cooperated deeply with mainstream cloud service providers in the industry to build an online cloud-network integrated self-service platform for government and enterprise customers - the Cloud Network System.

It is understood that the system is based on China Unicom's Industrial Internet and has achieved the country's first large-scale wide area network SDN commercial deployment. The network covers 334 cities and 35 overseas nodes across the country, and can provide automated, low-latency, convenient and fast self-service. It can realize data interoperability between public clouds, private clouds, data centers, and corporate offices, meet the needs of cloud-network integration, and provide users with end-to-end high-quality interconnection capabilities.

So far, China Unicom's cloud networking products have safeguarded the digital transformation of multiple industries, with customers covering finance, real estate, transportation and other industries, and have played an important role in major changes in many industries. Relevant data shows that since its official operation, China Unicom's cloud networking has maintained an annual growth rate of more than 50% in business revenue under the pressure of speed increase and fee reduction, and has been widely praised by the industry.