China begins large-scale testing of the ‘future Internet’

China launched a large-scale test network in Beijing on April 20 to test the future of Internet technology in the next 5-10 years.

China’s test network connects 40 top universities in preparation for a society powered by artificial intelligence (Image: Shutterstock) Located at Tsinghua University, “Future Internet Technology Base” connects 40 universities, the country’s leading research institute with much lower bandwidth and latency than the current Internet. ; According to the Xinhua state news agency. This facility will serve as the “backbone” for the China Network Innovation Environment (CENI) – a research facility linking the largest cities in China – to confirm the effectiveness and safety of the public. network technology in the future before bringing it into commercial use. When completed in 2023, the CENI facility will become a prototype of the “Internet of the Future”, connecting almost everything – from home computers to cars on the street – to serve information without compromise. disruption in a society powered by artificial intelligence (AI). “We will put a lot of effort into it. The Internet of the future needs to withstand all kinds of attacks. It is important to our national security, ”an anonymous computer scientist who was involved in the project at Tsinghua University told SCMP. China’s current Internet is built with Western technology and is full of backdoors. The US government’s Prism project, for example, took advantage of these weaknesses to penetrate the Chinese government and some of its research institutes, including Tsinghua; according to “whistleblower” Edward Snowden. Following Snowden’s revelation, the Beijing government has stepped up efforts to replace Western hardware in its information infrastructures. In recent years, a number of Chinese telecom companies, including Huawei Technologies Co., have outperformed Western firms in 5G network development and many other technologies. But their lead is limited to certain areas, while foreign software and protocols still prevail in the Chinese network. The US government has also launched a multitude of test networks, including the Global Network Innovation Environment (GENI) to maintain their leadership position in networking technology. Other players – such as the EU, Japan and South Korea – have also started similar projects. According to Tan Hang, the lead scientist working on the CENI project, the construction of the Chinese test network began in 2019. China’s base is to counter the US GENI program, with completely different technology. For example, China will develop a brand new operating system to manage data flow and “conversation”. between devices on the future Internet network, with the support of domestically produced hardware – from routers, servers to computer chips…, according to Mr. Tan. This 1.7 billion yuan ($ 260 million) network base will “enhance our country’s competitiveness and allow us to gain an edge in the international cyber competition,” said Mr. Tan. more. China has now embarked on building the world’s largest 5G network, and in the foreseeable future, a large number of smart devices – including self-driving cars – will connect to the Internet. These devices can produce and request huge amounts of data, while allowing only minimal communication delay and each device needs a unique ID. According to Mr. Tan, the current Internet base, based on military technology from the 1980s, is not strong enough to meet future requirements. And the more things connected to the Internet, the greater the damage caused by a network attack. New security protocols developed by Chinese researchers to locate and identify any device in the future network will be tested in the CENI network; according to Mr. Tan. The CENI network “will support attack and defense training” by allowing more than 4,000 teams across the country to conduct separate experiments at the same time; he said. Of course, China’s network will not be isolated, but will connect to existing Internet networks, as well as test networks in other countries, including the Future Internet Research and Test Network (FIRE) of Europe; according to the EU.