China rolls out world's fastest internet network

China launched next-generation internet service that is 10 times faster than current connections two years earlier than expected.

New Internet network connects three Chinese cities Beijing - Wuhan - Guangzhou. Photo: Gizmo China — New Internet network connects three Chinese cities Beijing - Wuhan - Guangzhou. Photo: *Gizmo China*

The new internet network, called the core network because it forms the key data transmission path between cities, has a speed of 1.2 terabits (1,200 gigabits) per second between Beijing in the north, Wuhan in the central region, and Guangzhou in the south. The fiber-optic line, stretching over 3,000 kilometers, was activated in July and officially put into operation on November 13, after operating stably and passing all tests. This is a collaborative achievement between Tsinghua University, China Mobile, Huawei Technologies, and Cernet Corporation, contrary to experts' predictions that the ultra-high-speed internet of one terabit per second will not appear until 2025, according to Xinhua .

Most of the world's core internet networks operate at only 100 gigabits per second. The US has only recently completed its transition to a fifth-generation internet network capable of 400 gigabits per second. The Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou connection is part of China's 10-year Future Internet Technology Infrastructure (FITI) project and the latest version of the China Research and Education Network (Cernet).

Wu Jianping, head of the FITI project at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the super-fast link was not only a success but also gave the country advanced technology to build an even faster internet.

Tsinghua University researcher Xu Mingwei compares the new core network to a super-fast train line, which can carry 10 times as much data as a conventional line, making it more cost-effective and easier to manage. The core network is key to research and education across the country, as well as meeting the growing demand for data transmission from applications such as connected electric vehicles and 5G-enabled mining.

SCMP quoted Xu, the FITI project, launched in 2013 with government support, is under the management of the Ministry of Education and is being built with the participation of Tsinghua University and 40 other universities. FITI will be ready for operation by the end of this year.

All the core network hardware and software are domestically produced. The team has made many improvements in everything from routers, switches to fiber optic connections. Wu and his colleagues have developed their own super-fast router that can handle much more data than before. They also proposed technology to combine multiple optical paths to increase the data transmission limit.

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