"The Analects of Confucius Liren" Zhongzi said: "Shenhu, my way is consistent."
What Confucius said "consistency" has gradually become an important part of Chinese culture and philosophy, indicating that the development of things often needs to aim at standardization, intensification, and integration. This intelligence is especially important in digital development. From the birth of cloud computing and big data technology models to the standardization of mobile communications and fixed broadband, we can see the "consistent" development path.
Under the wave of construction of digital China, "consistency" is bringing more possibilities. The annual Digital China Construction Summit has become a window for all walks of life in the world to understand the development achievements of Digital China and clarify the development direction of Digital China. Every year on this stage, new digital development directions can be seen. This year, the promotion of the "consistent" urban network in the urban wide area network has attracted the attention of all parties.
On April 26, during the 6th Digital China Construction Summit, the "Urban One Network Summit Dialogue" hosted by Huawei discussed in depth the development direction and evolution architecture of urban networks.
At the meeting, the Smart City Development Research Center of the State Information Center and Huawei held the launching ceremony of the "Urban One Network Research Project". The two parties will combine their respective advantages to conduct comprehensive and systematic research on urban network development trends, business drivers, network architecture, service operations, and practical research, laying a theoretical foundation for the development of smart city networks and providing innovative solutions.
Wei Feng, CEO of Huawei Wide Area Network Corps, said, "It is the trend of the times for urban networks to move towards intensive construction and service-oriented operation, which is the core feature of a city network. Urban networks must not only consider intensive construction from the perspective of the network, but also need to consider network construction. For future use, service-oriented operations must be considered from the perspective of services. Huawei will help create a blueprint for a single city network, and promote easy-to-use, innovative development of urban networks."
I believe that for most readers, a network of cities is still a brand-new concept, but its value is extraordinary. I believe that in the near future, the city's single network will become a new trend in the development of the communication industry and smart cities, and a new beacon of digital China, just like 5.5G, 10G optical networks, and computing power networks.
We might as well start from this summit dialogue to understand what is one city network and why it is said that one city network is closely related to the construction of digital China.
Trend and Value
Why do we need a city network?
Most cities in the world have experienced a long period of ICT construction and digital upgrade. During this process, cities create a large number of systems and applications, and configure different ICT infrastructures. Similarly, cities also need to build a large amount of network infrastructure for different application scenarios and business needs.
From public networks, government networks, to computing power networks, and various specific private networks. In the initial stage of urban network construction, discrete and vertical network construction and investment in network infrastructure must be carried out. There is no problem with this model, but when the urban network develops to a certain stage and the smart city project reaches a certain height, this discrete network architecture will expose problems such as difficulty in interoperability, resource management, and waste of a large amount of operation and maintenance management costs. And it is also not conducive to the implementation of the integrated urban intelligent body architecture, which limits the sustainable development of smart cities. Starting from the overall situation of urban development, the planning layout is future-oriented, with flexible architecture, intelligent and open city-wide urban network, overall network planning, unified network construction standards, and intensified network construction; providing one-stop services for different users and business scenarios Network services, turning network capabilities into network services, this is the meaning of a city network.
From macro trends to specific applications, we can see the necessity of building a city network from several aspects.
First of all, in terms of policy trends, the construction of digital China is in full swing, and the construction value of the city's one network is highly consistent with the development goals of digital China, and can provide a basis for more diversified and innovative digital development. In the "Overall Layout Plan for the Construction of Digital China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), the requirements for consolidating the digital infrastructure are clearly put forward. Among them, network construction is one of the two major digital infrastructures, and it is the main artery of digitalization and intelligence. The city's single network is not only the integration of 10G optical network and computing power network, but also a breakthrough for further activation of network infrastructure investment.
It is worth noting that the "Plan" clearly puts forward the idea of moderately advanced network infrastructure construction, and the leading and creative city network is just in line with the implementation of this strategy.
Next, we can see from the specific value that one city network can bring a significant increase in the value of smart cities, and can better support the development of digital government, digital economy, and digital society. For example, based on digital twins and AI technology, the two-way mapping of cities between virtual reality has been widely recognized as the next stage of smart city development. At this stage, the operation of the city can be fed back to the digital twin system, and the high-precision command, disposal, and emergency management capabilities can also be fed back to the real city in real time. To achieve this goal, it is first necessary to open up the network structure of the city to allow data integration and system integration. Therefore, a city network can be said to be a prerequisite for urban digital twins and urban intelligence.
From the point of view of the specific life experience of urban residents and enterprises, one network in the city can expand the function extension of the government, so that the people's experience in handling affairs is more efficient, and the matters that can be handled online and mobile are richer and the experience is more intelligent. On the other hand, enterprises can make more in-depth use of the network, computing power and other resources provided by the city, reduce the cost of digitalization, and enhance the ability of digital innovation.
Shan Zhiguang, Director of the Informatization and Industrial Development Department of the State Information Center and Director of the Smart City Development Research Center, said: "Cities are important carriers and basic units for the construction of digital China, and urban networks are the link connecting physical cities and digital twin cities. The key cornerstone base and digital capacity center of urban development. Building a city network is the only way for the integrated development of smart cities, and it is necessary to scientifically carry out top-level design and overall layout with systematic methodology."
It is not difficult to see that the construction of a city network is very necessary and its value is highly clear. Therefore, it is the general trend and the direction of the times for urban network construction to move from discrete to intensified.
Goals and Challenges
Looking forward to the future road of urban one network
Then the next question is what kind of urban network we want to build, and what challenges we may face in the process of building it. These two issues together constitute the future development of the city's one network.
First of all, we need to understand what challenges we may face if we want to open up the city network and build a holistic city network. Overall, there are several issues that need to be understood and addressed in advance:
1. Develop a strategy. It is necessary to preset the development goals and long-term strategies of the city's One Network in advance. Reverse the overall development idea through the ultimate goal, so as to clarify the responsibilities and rights, so that issues such as who will manage, who will operate, and who will build a city network can be clearly sorted out.
2. Open the ecology. A city network needs to gather the power of a large number of enterprises in the industrial chain and integrate support from all aspects of industry, academia, and government. Therefore, an effective ecological system must be formed to integrate the wisdom of all and develop their strengths on a unified structure and platform.
3. Reduce costs. One city network needs to minimize the waste and shelving of previous network investment, effectively use existing resources, so as to achieve maximum development at minimum cost.
4. Strengthen operations. Not only network construction must be considered, but also how to use the network after construction is completed, and how to make the network easy to use and love to use.
Pushing the problem to the development goal, we can know that the city's one network needs to achieve the two goals of intensive urban network construction and service-oriented operation.
In terms of construction, it is necessary to coordinate network planning, implement unified network construction standards, and create integrated security. Only in this way can we maximize the use of existing network investment while opening up the ecology. At the same time, intensive construction can also ensure the consistency and standardization of network services, thereby ensuring that the value brought by one network in future cities is highly unified.
At the operational level, the One City Network needs to ensure its efficiency and economy. End users do not emphasize the ownership of the network, but the right to use it, which leads to the need to strengthen network operation capabilities and service provision capabilities. Network operators need to provide and establish a unified service catalog to ensure that the network is highly reliable and secure and easy to use.
Intensive construction and service-oriented operation are the two major characteristics of a city network. Today, the industry has begun to actively explore how to achieve this direction and create a blueprint for the development of a city network.
Exploration and practice
The most feasible development plan at present
In order to create an urban network with intensive construction and service-oriented operation, it is necessary to outline a feasible construction plan. Today, the city network is still in the exploratory stage, and still needs a lot of scientific research and exploratory practice as the basis. But fortunately, the industry has accumulated technical capabilities and architectural ideas for the city's one network. It can be said that the well-accumulated technology, ecology and infrastructure are the reasons why Digital China can continue to develop at a high speed.
A network of cities with significant value can be said to be the next stop of digital China and another landscape in the near future.
First of all, the most likely way to explore a single urban network is the "1+3+N" network target architecture.
Among them, "1" refers to network digital twins, including physical network digital twins, virtual network digital twins and network cockpits, with open and unified interfaces and standards.
"3" refers to three virtual networks, namely the digital government network, the digital economic network, and the digital social network. These three networks just reflect the three major directions of digital China construction, and also condense into three major business categories that need to be carried by one network in the city. These three virtual networks need to span multiple physical networks, shield the complexity of the physical network downwards, and provide users with end-to-end "one-stop" services upwards.
And "N" refers to the category of physical networks, on the basis of a unified urban optical base, superimpose N physical networks, including government affairs extranet, computing power direct connection network, Internet of Things bearer network, mobile government affairs network, etc., so as to face three The virtual network provides basic network services in different directions and fields, which not only meets the complex needs of government affairs, industry, and people's livelihood for the network, but also ensures that the network services of the entire city are carried on one network.
If you want to realize the "1+3+N" structure, you can see that the construction goals of some key directions are very clear. For example, the city's unified optical base, at present, must be built into the city's one network, the entire network 100G, and the city's 1 millisecond urban all-optical artery, so that it is possible to carry the architecture of the city's single network.
The direct connection of urban computing power to the Internet has gradually become the focus of construction. This network can connect the city's diverse computing power infrastructure with end users, and build a computing power network with unified scheduling and supply, and users can access it at one point.
In order to realize the development goal of "1+3+N", the industry has also made full preparations. For example, Huawei has created a network cockpit product portfolio solution for urban one network, providing urban networks with more integrated and intensive technical capabilities. At the same time, Huawei can also provide top-level services such as service catalog formulation, service design, and network design to help cities take the first step in building a single network.
On the whole, the city network has gradually changed from an industrial concept to a clear development direction and an executable development plan. As an unprecedented digital exploration idea, it will become the digital China construction process and bring it to the world. Another gift from .
Transforming technological capabilities into practice and leading the world with cutting-edge exploration is the future of the city's one network, and it is also the "consistent" way of digital China.
