Shulou(Shulou.com)06/02 Report--

On the eve of the intelligent age, we can sense the rapid change and powerful convergence of a large number of technological systems around us.

Cloud, Big Data, AI, IoT, each technology is evolving rapidly and reacting chemically with others. The evolutionary premise of all technologies is the iteration of network support capabilities.

The reason why 5G will become a hot topic for the whole people is, to a large extent, because it represents the characteristics of large bandwidth and low latency network, which will effectively change the production base and enable the society to better access the world of cloud and intelligent technology integration.

But note that 5G only changes wireless networks. In our production and life, there are various network types and network areas that 5G cannot cover. Therefore, many experts believe that the accurate definition of the 5G era is the new network condition period generated by the cluster iteration of network technology represented by 5G. Wi-Fi 6 and gigabit fiber are essential partners for 5G.

But in this magnificent network upgrade, there are still some "dead corners" that are easy to ignore. For example, campus networks.

Different from the operator network, the main body of the selection and construction of the campus network is the park owner. Therefore, the update of the campus network will not be the same as the technology era, but depends on the cognitive ability of the park owner. Therefore, under the general trend of network technology upgrading, the park is likely to become a special area with uneven upgrading progress and inconsistent industry understanding.

If you don't believe it, you can look for Baidu encyclopedia of the word "campus network" and find that the definition of campus network is "area Ethernet composed of computers, routers and three-layer switches." However, with the rapid development of optical networks, optical fibers have entered the park, and all-optical parks based on passive optical local area network (POL) have been rapidly emerging. However, the industry's understanding of this is generally conservative.

What changes have taken place between all-optical and traditional campus networks? And how to judge whether to choose all-optical network as the solution of campus network? The answers to these questions begin with the practical challenges campus networks face today.

Three changes: the unbearable weight of the campus network

Around 2000, the operator access network ushered in the familiar change of optical fiber. At that time, many users had doubts about whether to use optical fiber. But with the rise of online gaming, online video, and the mobile Internet, home users began to recognize the critical role that fiber plays in their lives. Those who doubted the need for fiber at the time are now reluctant to go back to pre-fiber speeds.

That is to say, the iteration of the network ultimately comes from the network usage and the push of new services. And if we look at the changes that are happening in campus networks today, we see that there is an "unbearable weight of campus networks" coming.

The so-called unbearable refers to a large number of new changes in the campus network and a large number of new services added at the same time. These changes in network usage and growth in business have created new challenges for network media. As enterprises seek to upgrade and transform campus networks, they often face unexpected network barriers.

The main changes in campus networks may come from the growth of three technologies:

Full cloud: With the evolution of data centers and the increasing acceleration of cloud on enterprises, data transmission between enterprises and cloud platforms begins to occupy the main proportion of campus networks. This means that the data transfer between the campus and the cloud will become larger, and the data flow between the campus will be relatively simple. This makes it possible for traditional campus networks to experience unbearable traffic pressure.

2. Video: Today, Face Recognition System and Intelligent Security System are becoming mainstream applications in various parks. This means that a lot of video data will flow between campuses, and a lot of video data will need to be repeatedly called out, tagged and relearned. This is a flood of data that would not otherwise occur in a campus network. In addition, high-definition video applications such as video conferencing, streaming media applications, and VR devices are all increasing the burden on campus networks.

3. IoT: A large number of service robots, intelligent access control, voice equipment and data sensing equipment are becoming the "resident population" in the park. IoT is of great value to the campus, but it also brings countless data transmission nodes and network terminals. Especially for a campus, how many IoT devices will be included in the future is completely unknown. Perhaps in the near future, a guest room or a classroom will accommodate hundreds of IoT terminals. The network pressure they bring, as well as the complex network architecture formed by multiple terminal systems, is far beyond the traditional campus network solutions.

5G, Wi-Fi 6, cloud computing, AI, IoT, it can be said that the more advanced the technology, the greater the "weight" borne by the campus network. In particular, it is necessary to know that the wiring of the traditional campus network must be replaced every time it is upgraded, which brings huge and cumbersome construction costs. On the other hand, replacing the wiring is a bit of a boiling point, even the most powerful Cat6 cable on the market, although it can reach 10 Gbps speed, but the coverage distance is only 55 meters. Replacing Cat6, the traditional 100-meter wiring needs to redesign the power system and information point layout, and 10 Gbps will soon approach the limit in today's explosive network demand.

Relatively speaking, in the face of the three complex business challenges, the park all-optical network can provide targeted technical solutions. For example:

1. The all-optical network can be built at one time, and the network upgrade does not need to replace the medium in 30 years, so that the future business development has the bearing capacity.

2. The architecture of the all-optical network is simple, with only two layers of network, and passive equipment replaces weak current room, so that the park does not have to increase a lot of network cost and power transformation cost due to the increase of business.

3. The operation and maintenance of all-optical network is simple, and one person can maintain the entire campus network. Faced with the complexity of the business, the campus does not have to worry about the increase in operation and maintenance costs.

From this point of view, no matter from which aspect to consider, can not connect the power supply, long-distance transmission of more than 100 G data all-optical network, will be the best choice for the park network.

If you want to make the park in limited space burst into unlimited ICT technology vitality, then this "light in copper out" movement is the trend-and it is indeed happening rhythmically and at a pace.

Thinking from the scene: Which parks need "light" more urgently?

As campus networks face increasing new business challenges and all-optical network solutions mature, it can be seen that the use of all-optical networks in parks will also be a process. From the perspective of space-time relationship, the park with certain scene factors will urgently need all-optical network.

The most distinctive feature of these scenes is the large area of the park. Because traditional Ethernet requires power access, especially network cabling with large transmission rates requires dozens of meters to access power. This point means great inconvenience to the park with relatively large geographical area, dense population, numerous businesses and complex network system. Especially dozens of meters of access to power supply, but also means additional fire risk, operation and maintenance management costs, as well as affecting the beauty of the park, which makes the all-optical network park become the existence of "rescue level."

This kind of park is actually very common in our life, especially in hotels, campuses, airports and other parks. On the one hand, this kind of park has a variety of network requirements, such as hotel residents need a variety of network services; student dormitories, laboratories, teachers also need different and high-quality network support; airport park needs overall intelligent security and operation, at the same time to provide high-quality new generation network services for terminal WiFi-6 return, airport shops.

The all-optical campus network, which can not access power, has no transmission distance limit even in the super-large campus, and meets the requirements of multi-network collaboration and unified operation and maintenance, has become the first choice for these scenarios. Several distinctive features make it easier for these parks to choose all-optical network solutions:

1. High-speed network in super large space

In the past 2019, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics built the first all-optical fusion park with 10 Gigabit access in China. Tianmu Lake Campus of China Southern Airlines covers an area of 969 mu, with a planned total construction area of about 530,000 square meters. In such a vast campus, network connectivity becomes a big problem. On most campuses, students think of the Internet with a touch of sadness. However, in Tianmu Lake Campus, after Huawei's all-optical park solution is adopted, the all-optical network covers the whole campus, and the optical fiber network extends directly to desks, classrooms, laboratories and dormitories, providing 10G network experience integrating wired, wireless and IoT networks for teachers and students of the whole school. More importantly, based on this network, the school can carry out multimedia distance teaching, MOOC classes, collaborative scientific research and more innovative teaching activities in the future, making Tianmu Lake a "dream campus" in students 'minds.

2, network wiring complex to simplify

In scenarios where the business layout is relatively complex, network cabling has always been a big problem, and the advantage of all-optical networks is that they can simplify the deployment of campus networks. For example, Jinhua Electric Power Bureau's new dispatching building undertakes the complex power grid dispatching task of Jinhua New Energy Automobile Town. Its office intranet, IP telephone network and external network all have independent deployment requirements, which brings great challenges to wiring cost, energy consumption and space occupation. With traditional networking solutions, network cabling will account for 60% of the entire campus network cost. After using the all-optical park solution, the fiber coverage can reach 40km, and only one weak power room + fiber can be used to solve the network deployment problem, while saving a lot of energy and space.

3. Perfect balance between beautiful environment and network optimization

For large hotels, aesthetics may be a priority. In the picturesque scenery, there was suddenly a weak current room that was obviously very abrupt. Today, however, the hotel's Internet service has become a key competitive capability, and the relationship between the two seems to have become a fish and a bear's paw.

The all-optical network campus solves this contradiction. India's famous Taj Hotel has also adopted an all-optical campus solution. Through fiber-to-room, Taj Hotel realizes the integration of TV, telephone and cable, and can support a variety of IoT applications such as ultra-high definition TV, high-speed Internet access, and VR room selection, creating the ultimate experience with technology. In addition, the all-optical park scheme also saves the hotel a crucial space cost, ensures the beauty of the hotel environment, and ensures fire safety; and the all-optical network can bring great energy-saving and emission reduction advantages to the hotel, a 500-room hotel, after deploying the all-optical network park scheme, conservatively estimated to save more than 3000 kWh of electricity every year, constituting a major boost to the hotel's green environmental protection.

In addition, there are various cases of all-optical parks, which jointly confirm that all-optical parks have formed a trend of replacing traditional Ethernet in parks with wide space and strict operation and maintenance requirements. At the same time of breakthrough in key scenarios, various advantages such as high network speed, no dead angle, wide coverage, easy maintenance and easy expansion also make the all-optical park form new industrial thinking and begin to condense into industry-level value choices.

Time and place: Who chooses the all-light park?

The question of who should take the initiative to accept the all-optical park can be answered from the perspective of strategic decision-making in addition to limited consideration based on scenarios.

From the perspective of industry trends, all-optical parks can not only serve as a better alternative to traditional Ethernet cables, but also serve as a starting point for some key changes and even become a source of competitiveness in some fields. After all, the replacement of traditional park network takes time and layer by layer. At this time, choosing better solution, more suitable network layout mode and suitable industrial chain service may form differentiation advantage in similar parks, thus becoming the new competitive advantage of park in service, innovation and digital transformation.

From this point of view, the park that seizes the opportunity of all-optical park may see three key strategic nodes, namely, time, location and people.

The so-called weather refers to the all-optical park representing the complete iteration of the park network foundation. This foundation is compatible with new generation network technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6, which together form the super connection foundation in an industry cycle in the future. Moreover, the all-optical park can maintain 30 years without changing optical cables, which can be said to be the basis for future generations of network iteration. As a base, super connection points to computing iteration represented by cloud computing and super data center, as well as AI technology application represented by deep learning. This technology triangle will become the basis for intelligent innovation in the following industries in industrial, campus, residential, service and logistics parks. Therefore, managers who want to grasp the future technology trends and long-term business development laws need to seize the strategic opportunities of all-optical parks.

The geographical location comes from the industrial difference between the iterative efficiency of the park network and the network requirements of the park geographical characteristics. For example, large hotels today use all-optical campus solutions, which means a faster and better network experience, lower operating costs and more hotel space savings. This can constitute a very unique and modern competitive advantage in the highly competitive hotel industry. Therefore, managers who understand the characteristics of the industry and hope to build industrial competitiveness according to local conditions are also choosing the all-optical park scheme.

When it comes to human harmony, we will find that the Chinese industry has quietly completed the lead in the field of all-optical parks. In June 2019, POL engineering standards were released, specifying the system, design, wiring, testing and acceptance rules of all-optical park solutions; on October 22, Huawei, Nokia, Changfei, Digital China, Zhonghai Property and other companies initiated and established the Green All-Optical Network Technology Alliance (ONA). This means that in the field of technical standardization and engineering unification, China's all-optical park industry has gained strategic leading opportunities. Therefore, the Chinese park chooses the all-optical park solution, which will have a clearer and more specific engineering unified standard at this stage. This virtually condenses the international competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in the field of all-optical parks. Managers who want to take advantage of industrial dividends and form international advantages should also choose all-optical parks.

Overall, the all-optical park has a bright future today. In any case, in the future, human beings will enter the industrial stage of intelligence and interconnection of everything. There are countless network nodes in close proximity, carrying massive data flow, and the occurrence of highly robust intelligent algorithms should be the inevitable future of mankind. Then in the park, the network will be deeper, stronger, intelligent and minimalist, which is also the necessary scenery on the road of super connection.

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