Digital transformation of industries is the core of high-quality digital economy development, and cloudification is the only way to achieve true digital transformation. We can say that cloud is the core, and network is the foundation. As such, for telecom carriers looking to implement infrastructure and service transformation, the next step is cloud-network convergence. In addition to providing integrated services for various customers such as enterprises and industries, cloud-network convergence also transforms telecom carriers from traditional communication service providers to comprehensive smart information providers.
In digital transformation, cloud is the core, and network is the foundation.
With the rapid development of digital technologies and the continuous integration of digital technologies and economic operation modes, the digital economy is now regarded as the major engine of economic growth. Today, more than 170 countries around the world have released their national digital strategies to drive the transformation of production, lifestyle, and governance through digital transformation.
Cloudification is the only way to achieve true digital transformation. Cloud is the core, and network is the foundation that connects and enables clouds. According to an industry research report: by the end of 2021, 80% enterprises will accelerate the pace of cloudification, and more and more digital services will be provided to customers in the form of cloud services; 93% of "cloudification" enterprises will adopt the multi-cloud strategy; by the end of 2022, 75% of production systems will use the container technology. Yet as cloud technologies continue to develop rapidly, the network is failing to keep up, hindering efficient application of the cloud. Considering this, the cloud-network faces the following challenges: fast cloud but slow network, difficult experience assurance, difficult network O&M, and difficult security protection.
Network technology innovation is the key for carriers to develop cloud-networks.
At the surface level, the network is trailing behind the pace of the cloud. In the digital economy era, the requirements for networks have changed dramatically, from connecting people to connecting everything and connecting applications, which is posing higher requirements on network technologies.
At the technical level, we need to focus on two points: One is how to connect a large number of terminals, while the other is how to ensure high quality and provide high-quality services. IPv6 Enhanced Innovations (IPE) has many advantages, such as abundant addresses, differentiated SLAs, network programmability, visualization, and high security. It fully complies with standards and is an ideal choice.
IPE is an innovative IP network system oriented to the 5G and cloud era. It builds on IPv6 with comprehensive capability upgrades centered on automation, security, ultra-broadband, low latency, wide connection, and certainty. In this way, it is able to fully meet the requirements of 5G transport and cloud-network convergence. IPE includes protocol innovations such as SRv6, network slicing, in-band measurement, new multicast, and application-aware network, as well as technology innovations in network intelligence, such as network analysis, automated optimization, and self-healing.
Huawei intelligent cloud-network helps carriers enable industry digital transformation.
The history of network technology development shows that standards, technologies, industries, and commercial use are all mandatory factors for the wide application of an innovation. This is also true for IPE. As a forerunner in the data communications field and an important advocate of large-scale IPv6 deployment, Huawei promotes the implementation of IPE in terms of standard contribution, technology innovation and implementation, industry promotion, and commercial deployment.
In terms of standards, Huawei has contributed 59% of the total SRv6 standards and obtained a seat in the IETF IAB. When it comes to technologies, Huawei has built all-round leading capabilities, including SRv6, BIERv6, iFIT, slicing, and APN6. Regarding industry promotion, Huawei helped to establish the IPE innovation promotion team, as well as to develop and release the industry's first IPE white paper. And in terms of commercial deployment, Huawei has deployed more than 100 commercial projects around the world and continuously takes the lead in IPE commercial practices.
With IPE as the foundation, Huawei builds an intelligent cloud-network to implement one-hop cloud access, one-fiber multipurpose transport, one-click fast scheduling, one-network wide connection, and one-stop integrated security, fueling the digital transformation of industries. During the pandemic, the intelligent cloud-network solution helps carriers quickly provide pandemic prevention and control consultation hotlines, greatly accelerating the speed and efficiency of serving the public and responding to requirements. In the manufacturing industry, Huawei uses network slicing to implement hard isolation of production and office slices for steel enterprises, reducing the network construction cost by 35%. And in the financial industry, Huawei's unique lossless Ethernet algorithm implements lossless transmission over Ethernet links of up to 70 km, slashes the number of links by 90%, and improves the performance by 87%, achieving energy saving and emission reduction.
In the face of global digital transformations, opportunities and challenges coexist. Properly building infrastructures is the prerequisite for seizing opportunities and addressing challenges. IPE and Huawei intelligent cloud-network are ready for large-scale application. Huawei is looking forward to working with the industry to promote cloud-network development, further activate the digital economy, and accelerate the digitalization of the entire society and industry.
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