亚信科技

Computing power network, as a new infrastructure, its development will continuously enhance the self-innovation ability and international competitiveness of China's information and communication industry and help China take the initiative in global high-tech competition. 

On May 16, on the eve of the World Telecommunications Day, the central mainstream media, the main propaganda front of the central committee of CPC and the State Council in the field of science and technology, Science and Technology Daily, published the article authored by Ouyang Ye (IEEE Fellow, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of AsiaInfo), Zhang Yaqin (academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, president of the Institute for AI Industry Research, Tsinghua University and endowed professor of intelligence science) and Yin Hao (academician of the CAS and professor of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications), titled “The First Decade of Computing Power Network - Consolidating the First-Mover Advantages, and Drawing a New Blueprint for the Development of New Type of Information Infrastructure”. 

In this article, the connotation of computing power networks is defined; China's first-mover and dominant position in the field of computing power networks is analyzed and elaborated as well as different development paths of computing power networks domestically and abroad; It has advised to accelerate the infrastructure construction and consolidate the first-mover advantages of computing power networks through industry chain coordinated development and cooperation of industry, teaching, research and application; In addition, it has pointed out the phased development path of computing power networks in the first decade. 

The full text is as follows.

“Open up and develop new fields and tracks, and continuously shape and advance new driving forces and advantages.” The Report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has indicated the strategic direction for the new-round science and industry revolutions in our country. Under the background that digital economy has become a key measure for promoting economic recovery and a commanding height for economic development in major countries around the world, computing power, as the key productivity of digital economy, has formed a new global competitive situation and opened up a new track in computing power networks. 

Connotation of Computing Power Networks

The 2022 assessment report of International Data Corporation indicated that for every 1 point increase on average in the computing power index of 15 key countries, the digital economy and GDP of the countries will increase by 3.5 ‰ and 1.8 ‰ respectively. Major countries around the world have launched computing power system layouts in the national level. In February 2022, China has launched the project in full swing to “channel more computing resources from the eastern areas to the less developed western regions” and started the construction of 8 national integrated computing power network hubs to build a national computing power network system. The United States released Pioneering The Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem: A Strategic Plan in November 2020, aiming to build a national-level computing power system covering politics, industry, teaching, and research. In March 2021, the EU released the plan of “2030 Digital Compass”, which planned to deploy 10,000 edge computing nodes to enable all EU households to achieve gigabit network connection. As Moore's Law gradually slacks its pace, computing power growth is confronted with the bottleneck. The high-quality development of communication infrastructure represented by 5G and information infrastructure represented by cloud computing has provided basic conditions for the integration of network and computing power. The computing power network bridges the computing power and the society through the network, enabling computing power to provide social basic services just like water and electricity. The computing power network enables computing power to break through the single node performance limit, and provides more economical, efficient and ubiquitous computing power supply solutions for digital transformation businesses. The connotation of computing power network is embodied in computing adjustment, integration, and improvement through networks, conducting flexible, real-time, intelligent matching and providing optimal computing power resources for customers' computing tasks in any access point of the computing power network topology based on perception, touch and reach, arrangement, and scheduling of computing power of communication networks. 

China Holds the First-Mover and Dominant Position in the Field of Computing Power Networks 

In standards field, China set up the computing power network standards for the first time in 2019 International Telecommunication Union and has actively promoted the development of standards related to computing power network in standards organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force and the China Communications Standards Association. In industry field, China has gradually formed a complete upstream, midstream, and downstream industry chain of software and hardware infrastructure, platforms, and application services for computing power networks, which has preliminarily consolidated China's dominant position in the field of computing power networks. The upstream of the industry chain herein, on the one hand, has been guided by policies such as national new infrastructure construction and information innovation and promoted the implementation of independent design, research and innovation of new infrastructure for computing power networks; On the other hand, driven by national major projects such as “computing resources from the east to the west”, 5G network, and big data, the R&D industrialization of software and hardware infrastructure for high computing power, high performance, low power consumption, and high reliability computing power networks has been promoted. The midstream of the industry chain aims to provide platform service capabilities for management and operation and transaction of the integration of computing power and network, promoting the deep fusion of computing and network infrastructure from the past separated form. The downstream of the industry chain, by building diversified computing network application services and based on innovative business models, provides users with computing power network services to realize the value circulation and implementation of computing power networks. In the academic field, China's academic circles has been actively conducting preliminary research and exploration on computing power networks, and formed and published multiple papers and works, such as Cloud Network Integration and Detailed Explanation of Computing Power Networks; Several scientific research projects have been carried out simultaneously to help with high quality cooperation of industry, teaching and research, such as the “greenMachine” issued by Tsinghua University oriented towards the “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals”. 

Different Development Paths of Computing and Network Integration between China and Foreign Countries 

Before the computing power network, cloud network integration has become a key measure of digital transformation infrastructure and has been regarded as an important strategic task by global communication operators and cloud service providers. Computing power network is the result continuously evolved by cloud network integration. Comparing domestic and foreign industrial strategies, we can see two different development paths for the integration of computing and networks. From the perspective of the strategies and initiatives of European and American communication operators and cloud manufacturers, operators are more focused on the construction and business development of the communication network itself, and mainly adopt the strategy of cooperating with large cloud manufacturers in the development of cloud capabilities and edge computing business. In 2017, Verizon Communications and AT&T, the two largest telecom service providers in the United States, successively announced to withdraw from the cloud computing business field, while cooperating with Microsoft, Google and other cloud computing giants to promote the business cooperation and empowerment of cloud computing and edge computing. China's communication operators are actively advancing the construction of intelligent and comprehensive digital information infrastructure. All three major service providers have directly or indirectly stated that cloud computing will become their main business for future development. As edge computing is incorporated into the 5G system standardization architecture, service providers can compete with the distributed cloud based on natural advantages of the combination between edge computing and networks. Therefore, with the relatively complete cloud network infrastructure, China has gained the first-mover advantages in developing a new generation of computing power network. 

Speed up the Infrastructure Construction and Consolidate the First-Mover Advantages of Computing Power Networks 

The infrastructure construction and application innovation of the computing power network require the coordinated development of the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the industry chain. Firstly, it is necessary to strengthen the construction for infrastructure software and hardware of the computing power network in upstream of the industry chain, and gradually achieve the fusion of computing and network from collaboration relying on new type of information technologies such as big data and AI to improve the virtualization and intelligence level of computing and network software and hardware infrastructure. Secondly, it is required to accelerate the construction of platforms and service capabilities of the computing power network in midstream of the industry chain, and realize cost reduction and efficiency increase in computing power network construction through intelligent and integrated management of computing power and networks; Build a secure and trustworthy transaction and operation support system of computing power network and provide services for computing power network applications as needed. Finally, it is supposed to increase encouragement and support for application and service innovations of the computing power network in the downstream of the industry chain. Through the introduction of innovation policy, the establishment of innovation funds, and other means, explore the application scenarios and operation models of computing power networks in thousands of industries and promote the flourishing of innovation in computing power network applications and services. In the meanwhile, further promotion is required in developing the cooperation of industry, teaching, research and application of computing power networks, strengthening resource sharing and exchange and cooperation between industrial and academic circles, enhancing the cultivation and introduction of talents in the field of computing power networks, encouraging colleges and universities to carry out interdisciplinary research oriented towards computing power networks, and stimulating the innovation vigor of computing power network construction. 

Prospect for the First Decade of Computing Power Networks 

With the continuous deepening up of the integration of computing power and network technology, the continuous expansion of computing network applications to thousands of industries, and the continuous strengthening of collaboration between the community of industry, teaching, research and application, China's computing power network is firmly moving towards high-quality development. The development of computing power network in the first decade can be divided into three stages: collaboration, fusion, and integration of computing power and network. By the end of 2023, it's determined to achieve the goal of computing network collaboration and complete the preliminary collaborative layout of the national computing power network system. At this stage, the community of industry, teaching, research and application will reach a consensus on the technology and standards of computing power networks, and a complete industry chain of infrastructure and services will come into an initial formation. By 2025, it's planned to realize the fusion of computing power and network that providing efficient adaptability of national computing power demand and production in intensive development through unified management and operation of computing power and network infrastructure. At this stage, a complete and transparent computing power network technology and standard systems will be formed, deep fusion of computing power and networks will be realized, the intelligent level of computing power network management and scheduling will be significantly improved, and the service efficiency of computing power network will be significantly enhanced, and the service scope will be further expanded. By 2030, it's decided to achieve the integration of computing power and network, build a new type of integrated information infrastructure, and organize national computing power through networks and call it on demand to meet the growing demand for computing power in society. The development of the computing power network will enhance the self-innovation ability and international competitiveness of China's information and communication industry, and help China take the initiative in global high-tech competition. At the same time, the new driving force generated by the development of computing power networks will promote the upgrading of China's new type of information infrastructure, improve the application performance of the connection between computing power and the driving force in society. The new advantages formed hereby will further strengthen the development of industries related to information and communication technology such as AI and big data, and help China enter the forefront of digital development in the world by 2035, achieving significant achievements in the Digital China construction.