Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Central Cyberspace Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued a notice agreeing to start the construction of national computing power hub nodes in 8 places, including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Chengdu-Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu, and Ningxia, and planning 10 national data center clusters. What is the significance of this action and how does it relate to the mainland's strategy to develop the digital economy? What is the connotation of the country's overall layout design of the integrated big data center system? As an important force in information construction, what kind of tasks will telecom operators undertake in this overall layout? With these questions in mind, this reporter interviewed Feng Jie, member of the Information and Communication Economy Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and general manager of the Cloud Network Development Department of China Telecom Group Co., Ltd.
Reporter: What is the relationship between the overall layout design of the integrated big data center system and the national strategy for the development of the digital economy?
Feng Jie: On October 18, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed at the 34th collective study of the 19th Politburo of the Central Committee: "It is necessary to accelerate the construction of new infrastructure, strengthen the strategic layout, accelerate the construction of an intelligent and comprehensive digital information infrastructure with high-speed ubiquitous, integration of heaven and earth, integration of cloud and network, intelligent agility, green and low-carbon, safe and controllable, and open up the information 'artery' of economic and social development." "The mainland attaches great importance to the development of the digital economy, and the integrated big data center and its network system that connects and processes data is an important infrastructure of the digital economy, which is directly related to the effective smoothness and role of data, and has far-reaching significance in supporting the healthy development of the digital economy, promoting the market-oriented reform of data allocation, implementing the "double carbon" strategy and accelerating the transformation and development of the data center industry."
The construction of a national integrated big data center system has four important roles: First, it is conducive to promoting the healthy development of the digital economy. The big data center system is not only the hosting space of digital equipment, but also the scientific and technological carrier of digital technologies such as big data and cloud computing, and is the computing power base necessary for independent innovation of digital technology. According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, during the period from 2016 to 2020, the scale of the mainland's hashing capacity will increase by an average of one percentage point, driving the growth of digital economy by 0.4 percentage points and GDP growth by 0.2 percentage points. It can be said that whether the "foundation" of computing power is consolidated or not is related to whether the "edifice" of the digital economy can stand tall. Second, it is conducive to accelerating the market-oriented reform of data elements. The construction of an integrated big data center system can promote the construction of a national data resource system, enhance the national control of information resources, and create the mainland's ability to allocate data resources in the global digital economy and trade; it can improve the data governance and circulation system, deepen the reform of the market-oriented allocation of data elements, promote data integration and openness, and accelerate the release of data value. Third, it is conducive to promoting the implementation of the "double carbon" strategy. The integrated big data center system not only clearly puts forward the requirements for the evolution of carbon emission reduction indicators such as PUE and the proportion of green electricity, but also focuses on promoting the optimization of energy efficiency of computing infrastructure and the integration and development of green energy with the help of construction paths such as data center clustering and "east and west counting", building a low-carbon and green high-quality computing power service system, and further releasing the green value brought by the system construction to the transformation of the whole society and economy. Fourth, it is conducive to accelerating the transformation and development of the data center industry. On the one hand, the integrated big data center system can drive the intensive, green and balanced development of data centers, and on the other hand, it has built an infrastructure system with multiple elements such as data center, network, cloud, AI, and security, which is an upgraded version of the traditional data center and a model for the development of new infrastructure.
Reporter: What key areas does the state's layout design of the integrated big data center system cover? What do you think is the focus of development at this stage?
Feng Jie: The overall framework of the integrated big data center system covers five subsystems: "digital network", "digital button", "digital chain", "digital brain" and "digital shield". Among them, "Digital Network" aims to build an integrated and high-quality data center cluster and interconnection network; "Digital New" aims to strengthen computing power services and optimize the resource structure of the east and west with computing power scheduling; "Digital Chain" aims to promote cross-departmental, cross-regional, and cross-level data circulation and governance, and build a digital supply chain; "Digital Brain" aims to strengthen the innovative application of data industry and establish a national model for digital transformation; "Digital Shield" aims to strengthen network security and data security capabilities.
From the perspective of internal relationship, the five subsystems are indispensable "components" for the construction and operation of the integrated big data center system, and only by comprehensively promoting the landing can we ensure the high-quality development of the digital economy; from the perspective of the implementation process, the "digital network" and "digital new" as infrastructure are the resource base of the entire system, supporting the development of upper-level data and application capabilities, so they are the focus of the development of the integrated big data center system construction at this stage. From the perspective of implementation effect, the "digital chain", "digital brain" and "digital shield" focus on the safe, reliable connection, circulation, analysis, processing and empowerment of data supporting the development of the digital economy, which is the key to the high-quality development of the digital economy.
The integrated big data center system has its own internal logic and development law, and it should be built step by step according to the characteristics of the stage. At this stage, it is necessary to focus on the "digital network" and "digital new" system, build a highly reliable, energy-efficient, and low-carbon data center cluster, create a high-quality, low-latency inter-east interconnection network and a direct connection network between hub nodes, build a high-quality integrated computing power supply system that serves the development of the digital economy, highlight the key infrastructure positioning of national hub nodes, and comprehensively promote the rapid landing and high-quality development of integrated big data centers.
Reporter: As an important force in information construction, what kind of tasks will China Telecom undertake in the overall layout of the national integrated big data center system, and how to promote the landing of the "East Counting West" project?
Feng Jie: As a state-owned mega-large communication backbone enterprise, China Telecom has always attached great importance to and actively participated in the overall layout design of the national integrated big data center system. Focusing on the integrated big data center, accelerate the construction of the data center of the hub node, optimize the communication network architecture, and promote the landing of the integrated big data center.
Data centers are an important carrier of computing power. Relying on 794 data centers, thousands of telecom buildings and tens of thousands of access bureaus, China Telecom has formed an overall layout of 2+4+31+X data centers, including two major group-level parks in Inner Mongolia and Guizhou, four major regional-level DCs such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu-Chongqing, 31 provincial-level large and medium-sized DCs, and edge DCs covering all local networks. In the next step, China Telecom will take the construction of the national integrated big data center as an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative layout of the "East Number West Calculation", focus on the starting area of the hub node, and accelerate the construction of the data center cluster; at the same time, match the edge computing power layout and actively carry out the edge DC construction in accordance with the principle of "thousands of cities and thousands of pools".
As a link connecting computing power, data and users, the network is an important foundation to support "east counting and west counting". China Telecom actively promotes network development and change, focusing on cloud/DC to build a high-bandwidth, low-latency, intelligent and agile network infrastructure. The first is to build a low-latency optical cable network base of "four districts, six axes, eight hubs and multiple channels" around the national integrated big data center. Second, the two 2B boutique networks of CN2-DCI+OTN are expanded to meet the direct interconnection needs between hub nodes, and DCI wavelength division is introduced synchronously to create ultra-high-speed, low-latency interconnection channels between data centers in the cluster hub to meet the needs of cloud multi-AZ. The third is to coordinate with edge DC to deploy new metropolitan area networks and gigabit optical networks to support the flexible scheduling and distribution of cloud-side computing power. The fourth is to continue to promote the flattening of ChinaNet and ROADM networks, actively promote the construction of national-level Internet backbone direct connection points, and realize efficient and low-latency connections between public users and cluster hubs in the region.
China Telecom will give full play to the advantages of cloud-network integration, optimize the layout of computing power resources around the integrated big data center, improve the basic network capabilities, and build a solid foundation for the healthy development of the digital economy.
Source: People's Post and Telegraph
Editor: Yuan Lu