China Next Generation Internet

The China Next Generation Internet (CNGI) (simplified Chinese: 中国下一代互联网; traditional Chinese: 中國下一代互聯網; pinyin: Zhōngguó Xià Yīdài Hùliánwǎng) project is a five-year plan initiated by the Chinese government with the purpose of gaining a significant position in the future development of the Internet through the early adoption of IPv6.

Key CNGI goals

According to a brochure entitled "CNGI-CERNET2/61X", the CNGI effort's key tasks were as follows:

• Construction of China's next generation Internet backbones
• Development of key network technology and major applications for the next generation Internet
• Promotion of industrialization and application development of next generation Internet equipment and software
• Participation in international organizations, and playing an important role in standards setting

IPv6 was selected as key technology. The United States has almost one third of the theoretical maximum IPv4 addresses (about 4.3 billion [255^4 - 19M] ), while China has more high-speed Internet users than IP addresses and the largest Internet user base of any country. With the implementation of IPv6, China planned to avoid imminent problems of IPv4 address exhaustion.

History

The origins of CNGI date to 2001 when 57 members of the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering wrote a letter to the State Council recommending construction of the next generation academic Internet. In 2002 the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) organized a study of the topic, and in 2003 the study group submitted a strategic report. After authorization, the CNGI was then launched under the auspices of eight ministries: NDRC as the lead, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Information Industry, the State Council Information Office, Chinese Academy of Science, Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the National Natural Science Foundation.

Current status

As of October 2009, the CNGI effort comprises six nationwide backbone networks and 39 GigaPOPs (Gigapop is short for gigabit point-of-presence, an access point to Internet2), which extends the next generation footprint to over 20 major cities and over 300 academic, industrial, and government research campuses within China. Five backbones are commercial (operated by China Telecom, China Unicom, China Netcom/CSTNET, China Mobile, and China Railcom), with an additional academic research network operated by CERNET, which is known as CNGI-CERNET2. CNGI also encompasses two exchange points (IX) in Beijing (named CNGI-6IX) and Shanghai for interconnecting these backbones and for international links to APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network), GEANT, and Internet2.

China showcased CNGI and the IPv6 network infrastructure at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing for the website www.beijing2008.cn. The launching of the domain ipv6.beijing2008.cn was witnessed by officials from Tsinghua University, the CERNET, the Technology Department of BOCOG and Sohu.com.

Everything from security cameras, taxis, to the Olympic events cameras are networked by IPv6; the events are streamed live over the Internet while networked cars are able to monitor traffic conditions readily.

CNGI-CERNET2 backbone

As of October 2009, the CNGI-CERNET2 backbone runs native IPv6 to connect 25 PoPs in 25 cities. Most links run at 2.5 Gbit/s with 10 Gbit/s connections between Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou and Wuhan-Nanjing-Shanghai. Access links run at 1 Gbit/s, 2.5 Gbit/s, or 10 Gbit/s.

See also

• IPv6 deployment in China
• EUChinaGRID
• China Education and Research Network (CERNET)
• Telecommunications industry in China

References

• "CNGI-CERNET2/6IX", undated brochure, consulted in October 2009.

External links

• China Reaps Big Fruits for Future Internet