With the rapid development of the Internet, the TCP/IP technology system has achieved great success, as the core technology carrier of the Internet, IP protocol from IPv4, IP + MPLS to IPv6 has undergone long-term development and evolution. Nowadays, with the emergence of 5G, cloud computing, etc., as well as the transformation of human communication to the material connection and human-computer interaction mode, the IP protocol is facing new demands, and "IPv6+" came into being, opening a new channel for the innovation and development of IP networks.
New applications, new scenarios
Higher requirements are placed on network evolution
5G high-speed networks and cloud computing massive computing power are being integrated and applied to thousands of industries, creating new service experiences, new industry applications and new industrial layouts. At the same time, the usage mode of Internet users has changed from simple point-to-point access to an immersive experience of converged media, and the communication subject has accelerated from human communication to the mode of material connection and human-computer interaction. Ubiquitous, diversified, and heterogeneous new service application scenarios inevitably require the network to provide more flexible, efficient, reliable, and secure bearer services, which puts forward higher requirements for the next step of network evolution and innovation.
First, massive connection expansion needs.
The development of industrial digitalization requires that the number of connections in the network can be expanded indefinitely, and requires that the bearer network can develop any service if the bandwidth can be satisfied, reducing the perception of the service to the network capability.
Second, the service needs to be connected arbitrarily.
Traditional telecom networks strictly limit service access points, in the era of full digitalization, service access points are uncontrollable, and the network also needs to meet the needs of service access at any point and connect across any region.
Third, differentiated service needs.
Traditional telecommunications networks provide users with undifferentiated connectivity services, which is bound to cause a waste of limited resources, while services with special quality requirements are difficult to guarantee. Therefore, the bearer network should choose the quality of service according to the business needs, which not only saves resources, but also guarantees the service.
Fourth, end-to-end reliability requirements.
Current networks can achieve some reliability by deploying rapid detection and inversion technologies, but these technologies do not work well in large-scale use, long-distance scenarios, and the deployment scenarios are very complex. Therefore, supporting large-scale, distance-independent end-to-end reliability scenarios is also the capability that the end-of-life network should have.
Fifth, convenient network service requirements.
From the perspective of the cloud, functions such as computing, storage, and networking must be conveniently served. Network service is an inherent requirement of cloud-network convergence on network connection capabilities, and its basic connotations include simplified interfaces, automated deployment, programmable routing, and fast closed-loop failures.
Sixth, the need for credible security assurance.
Industry digitalization has also brought security threats to the digital space to thousands of industries, making traditional industries face security risks, and the virtualization, data openness, and loose coupling architecture of cloud services themselves may also introduce new security risks. Therefore, it is necessary to build a multi-level, multi-dimensional, multi-domain trust network security architecture.
Evolution of the "IPv6+" network innovation system
In the past 50 years, the TCP/IP technology system has achieved great success, unifying the network bearer protocol and realizing Everythingover IP and IPover Everything. As a core technology carrier in the Internet era, the IP protocol has also undergone long-term development and evolution.
IPv4 is the cornerstone of the first generation of IP networks, with its openness, lightweight and easy scalability, which has promoted the rapid development and prosperity of the Internet. With the continuous development and evolution of information and communication technology, KEY technologies such as MPLS and VPN have been widely adopted, the communication network has been IP-enabled from the access side to the core side, and the second-generation "IP +MPLS" network has matured and been widely deployed. In recent years, in the face of the innovation needs of business scenarios in the 5G and cloud era, the mainland Internet industry has taken the lead in proposing the "IPv6+" network innovation system, aiming to explore the development and evolution of the third-generation IP network, continue to integrate new protocol architectures and innovative technologies into the IPv6 Internet, and further deepen and develop the next-generation Internet technology system. The evolution from IPv4 to "IPv6+" is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 "IPv6+" is the core technology of the new generation of IP networks
Strategic objectives
In 2019, the Expert Committee on Promoting IPv6 Scale Deployment guided the establishment of the "IPv6+" Innovation Promotion Group, and the mainland industry proposed the strategic development goal of building an "IPv6+" network innovation system, and determined that in 8 to 10 years, the national strategy of promoting IPv6 scale deployment should be used as an opportunity to establish an "IPv6+" network technology innovation system that can be evolved and incrementally deployed, leading the mainland "IPv6+" core technology, industrial capabilities and application ecology to achieve breakthrough development. Create a new network information infrastructure that empowers the development of digital transformation, and provide innovative solutions for network evolution represented by the "IPv6+" series of standards at home and abroad.
Innovative connotations
"IPv6+" is an IP network innovation system for the 5G and cloud era. Based on the "re", "re" improvement of the IPv6 technology system, the "re" innovation of the core technology, the "re-" improvement of network capabilities, and the "re-" upgrading of the industrial ecology, "IPv6+" can achieve more open and active technology and service innovation, more efficient and flexible networking and service provision, more excellent performance and user experience supply, more intelligent and reliable operation and maintenance and security guarantees, thereby supporting the upgrading, evolution and innovative development of the next-generation Internet. The "IPv6+" network system has a rich connotation of innovation, and its core content includes the innovation of the network technology system represented by SRv6 segmented routing, network programming, network layer slicing, deterministic forwarding, current detection, new multicast and application awareness, the innovation of the intelligent operation and maintenance system represented by network fault discovery, fault identification, network self-healing, automatic tuning, etc., and the innovation of network business model represented by 5Gto B, inter-cloud interconnection, user cloud migration, network security linkage, etc.
Evolution path
According to the promotion rhythm of 5G bearer, cloud-network integration, and industrial digitalization, combined with the maturity of technology and the urgency of demand, the evolution of the "IPv6+" technology system is roughly divided into three development stages: the first stage focuses on technical system innovation and builds network open programming capabilities; the second stage focuses on improving user experience assurance capabilities through intelligent operation and maintenance innovation; and the third stage focuses on developing application-driven network capabilities to achieve business model integration and innovation. This is shown in Table 1.
Table 1 "IPv6+" innovation development path
All parties in the industry are working together to promote it
Since the release of the IPv6 scale deployment action plan, government departments, telecom operators, Internet companies, equipment providers, etc. have responded positively, and the IPv6 scale deployment in mainland China has achieved significant success in the past four years, laying a solid foundation for the next generation of Internet innovation. "IPv6+" is precisely based on the comprehensive evolution and innovation of the IPv6 technology system, from the aspects of ultra-wide, wide connectivity, certainty, automation, security and credibility, greatly improving the overall service capabilities of the information network infrastructure, which will surely strongly support the digital transformation of thousands of industries.
Policy support
In 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the Notice on Accelerating the Large-scale Deployment and Application of the Sixth Edition of the Internet Protocol (IPv6), which requires unswerving promotion of IPv6 scale deployment and application, with comprehensive promotion of IPv6 technology innovation and integrated application as the main line, with the improvement of application breadth and depth as the main direction of attack, and strive to build an open and innovative technical system, an advanced performance facility system, a comprehensive coverage application system, a good ecological industrial system, and a complete standard system. Autonomous and controllable safety system. It is clear that "the mainland has become an important driving force for global 'IPv6+' technology and industrial innovation, and the independent innovation ability of network information technology has been significantly enhanced" as the goal of the "14th Five-Year Plan" scale deployment work, and the number of "IPv6+" innovative application projects is taken as the main indicator of scale deployment.
Industry consensus
Relying on the "IPv6+" innovation promotion group platform, integrating the strength of all parties in the mainland IPv6-related "government, industry, learning, research and use" industry chain, continuously strengthening the innovation of the next-generation Internet technology system based on "IPv6+", actively carrying out technical research, test verification and application demonstration from the direction of network routing protocol, management automation, intelligence and security, and continuously improving the "IPv6+" technology industry system. At present, all parties in the industry have reached consensus on the strategic objectives, conceptual connotations, evolution paths and core scenarios of "IPv6+", and have begun to actively explore system architecture, core technologies and industrial layout. Experts from the Expert Committee on Promoting IPv6 Scale Deployment have said on many occasions that "IPv6+" is becoming a solid technical base for future cloud-network convergence and computing-network integration.
Standard setting
The development of the "IPv6+" technical standard system is being carried out in an orderly manner by standards organizations such as IETF, IEEE, ETSI and CCSA. In some technical directions, domestic standards have formed a trend of going hand in hand with international standards, especially some directions that are closely integrated with new applications and new scenarios, and domestic standard innovation has been at the forefront of the industry. In 2021, the China Communications Standardization Association will take the lead in setting up an IPv6 standard working group to bring together all parties to coordinate the formulation of IPv6 national standards, industry standards and group standards. In this situation, the IPv6 standards working group should be used as the basic platform for technological innovation cooperation, strengthen cooperation with overseas institutions in network architecture innovation through IETF, ETSI and other organizations, combine China's huge network volume and active user number, explore China's innovation first, and actively participate in the formulation of international standards. At present, the mainstream data communication equipment suppliers in the industry have accelerated the product research and development progress that supports the "IPv6+" function in terms of routing, switching, security, and even terminals, and 9 products and solutions have passed the "IPv6+" Ready1.0 evaluation certification initiated by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. With the gradual maturity of products and solutions, the industry has carried out a large number of live network pilots in many fields, including basic telecommunications networks, government extranets, and financial private networks, and even large-scale commercial deployments. Taking China Unicom's Winter Olympics Smart Network and Xiong'an New City Network, which passed the "IPv6+" Ready service assessment as an example, high-quality services such as the event private network and 5G slices have strongly supported the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and are known as China Unicom's "Olympic black technology", and these successful practical experiences have been fully promoted in China Unicom's provincial companies.
prospect
At present, the "IPv6+" network innovation architecture and key technologies are rapidly iterating, opening up a new channel for the innovation and development of IP networks, and the emerging new features will surely meet the business needs of flexible networking, rapid service provisioning, intelligent operation and maintenance, and differentiated service guarantee. Past experience tells us that on the one hand, new application scenarios put forward demand challenges for network bearing, on the other hand, network carrying innovation is the basic enabling condition for application innovation, and the mutual promotion of network innovation and application innovation will surely achieve "spiraling" development. It should be noted that "IPv6+" innovation is both an opportunity and a challenge for us, identifying business needs, condensing industrial consensus, guiding industrial direction, and coordinating industrial forces, which is conducive to reshaping the mainland Internet innovation system, stimulating innovation vitality, cultivating emerging formats, and is of great significance for creating new advantages in high-quality development of IPv6 scale deployment and application, accelerating Internet evolution and upgrading, and helping the economy improve quality and efficiency.
End
Author: Tian Hui, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology
Editor-in-Charge/Layout: Fan Fan
Review: Shen Qing
Producer: Liu Qicheng
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