What Data and Green Optical Networks to Digital Economy Is What Water Resource and Roads to Cities

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In ancient times, water channels and roads were the foundation of prosperity, promoting the development of cities and various industries. Data and computing power are the water resources, while green and efficient optical networks are the water channels in the intelligent era. Building and upgrading green all-optical networks is to build water channels for a digital world.

Balance Between Digital Economy and Energy Conservation and Environment Protection

The rapid development of technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual reality (VR) accelerates the convergence of information technologies and traditional industries. In the process of convergence, the key points that are widely recognized are as follows:

1. Multiple technologies are maturing and developing collaboratively.
2. The demand for computing power has increased exponentially.

Business opportunities in the AI, 5G, and cloud computing fields are similar to water resources in mountains. Only efficient water channels can introduce water resources to cities. For the digital economy, seizing opportunities starts with network upgrades.

Currently, there are three types of basic network upgrade requirements around the world:

1. The coordinated development of multiple technologies requires a network that can bear diversified services and technologies. For example, the emergence of VR and the metaverse poses a great challenge to network latency.
2. The increase in the proportion of digital economy requires the corresponding network infrastructure as the prerequisite.
3. Geo-development and cooperation requirements are closely related to network upgrade. Without a network as the foundation, cooperation between countries will be inefficiently and costly.

All these requirements demand rich and efficient network infrastructure. Among many network upgrade solutions, a green, energy-saving, efficient, and reliable fiber network has become a preferred network development principle.

At present, it has become an industry consensus to ensure environment protection while developing technologies. According to a Huawei Global Industry Vision (GIV) report, by 2025, the ICT industry will reduce carbon emissions per connection by 80%. The global energy conservation and emission reduction brought by the ICT industry will exceed its operating energy consumption and carbon emission. The storage, computing, and network fields are all reducing carbon emissions while ensuring performance. Among the communication network media, fiber is the most environment friendly. As networks become the necessity for economic development, all-optical networks can achieve the balance between digital economy and energy conservation and environment protection.

OTN Is the Answer

Almost every technical enterprise and even every developed industry want to obtain sufficient computing power. This means that network facilities must be upgraded, and computing networks are sure to come. A computing network is a deep integration of computing power and a network. Computing and networks are on the path to integrated development. In this case, a high-quality OTN becomes the first choice for upgrade. It is the key for regions to seize the dividends of digital technology progress and promote computing centralization, and is also an important development opportunity for operators.

Improving the Coverage and Quality of Optical Networks

To meet the network requirements in the era of multi-technology and computing power explosion, the next-generation network must be environment friendly and adapt to centralized computing. Improving the optical network coverage and quality is the most important network construction strategy. In addition, the green and energy-saving feature of an optical network can reduce the cost of network O&M and protect the environment.

To build green all-optical networks that meet the computing power requirements, global operators need to consider the following network construction strategies:

1. Build latency circles. Centered on computing power, optimize OTN link latency to build multiple computing latency circles: 1ms within a metro network, 5ms between cities, 10ms within a region, and 20ms between regions.
2. Connect and pre-deploy an optical network with a data center, storage center, and AI computing platform to implement unified top-level design.
3. Provide users with diversified connection modes and build an optical network system that supports on-demand and efficient access for enterprises.

When the ancient were building cities, they first built water channels and roads. Even after a millennium, this idea still applies to the construction of a digital society. Today's global communications industry can learn from historical wisdom and increase investment in the construction of computing power, data storage, and green optical networks to lead mankind towards a better future.