World Telecommunication Day: Intel's Wang Rui: Accelerate cloud-network integration and promote digital transformation

World Telecommunication Day: Intel's Wang Rui: Accelerate cloud-network integration and promote digital transformation

In the process of transitioning from traditional society to digital life, digitalization has become the driving force behind the transformation of the old and new worlds, which has also brought unprecedented opportunities to the entire technology industry. Among them, the deep integration of digital technologies represented by 5G, cloud computing, AI, and edge computing with traditional industries has released tremendous energy and promoted the digital transformation of all walks of life.

Dr. Rui Wang, Intel's Global Vice President and General Manager of China, at the 2021 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day Conference

Deliver a keynote speech

Over the past 15 years, the compound annual growth rate of China's digital economy has exceeded 20%, contributing 70% to overall economic growth. At present, the scale of China's digital economy is close to 40 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world in terms of total volume. The information and communication industry is the backbone of the development of the digital economy, and the development of 5G is advancing by leaps and bounds. It is estimated that by 2026, 5G will contribute 54% of the total mobile data volume.

In response to the needs of digital transformation, innovative technologies such as wireless networks, cloud, edge, and AI are intertwined and collaborate in industry applications, showing a trend of technological integration. This integration will create an adaptive, predictable, and automated world. In this world, 5G networks provide real-time and reliable connections, promote exponentially growing interactions between people and things, and provide flexible resource scheduling and deterministic service guarantees for applications.

On this basis, through the promotion of 5G industry-specific networks and edge computing, 5G will also drive an industry-oriented local ecosystem to meet the network, computing and data processing needs of enterprises and factories, and promote digital innovation in the industry.

This will bring about a change in the computing model. Each node in the network will become a complete distributed computer, which not only forwards data but also completes calculations, ultimately realizing the integration of network infrastructure and computing infrastructure.

5G drives computing paradigm shift, Intel helps operators accelerate network transformation and cloud-network integration

Looking around the world, Chinese operators firmly adhere to the strategy of advancing cloud and network simultaneously. In the 5G era and under the new computing model, the two complement each other and highlight the market value of operators in the digital economy. Intel has long been committed to cloud computing technology and has accumulated rich experience. At the same time, Intel is also the first in the world to invest in network transformation research and development and support the network cloudification strategy of global operators.

In the process of network transformation, we must first use cloud architecture to build a unified infrastructure. Whether it is IT business or CT business, cloud architecture has been proven to be effective. 5G core networks have basically been deployed in a cloud manner around the world, and the wireless access network part has also begun to move towards cloudification. A unified cloud architecture is conducive to enhancing network flexibility, improving operation and maintenance efficiency, and reducing total cost of ownership. Especially for 5G industry needs, cloud infrastructure and software-defined networks are the best choices to meet the differentiated needs of the industry.

Secondly, 5G is going to thousands of industries, and services need to be provided on the industry side and the edge side. On the one hand, the cloud capabilities need to be extended to the edge, and on the other hand, the network advantages need to be fully utilized to provide flexible network access, scheduling, and SLA-based service capabilities. The advantage of operators at the edge is not only the advantage of resources, but also the advantage of cloud-network collaboration and one plus one greater than two. In short, cloud-network integration provides digital services based on the cloud architecture, and the advantages of operators in the network greatly enhance the differentiation and market value of their digital services.

To promote cloud-network integration and accelerate network transformation, Intel and Chinese operators have conducted extensive cooperation in the fields of 5G and edge computing:

Taking machine vision (one of the key application areas of 5G) as an example, Intel and China Telecom have cooperated to create a smart factory solution based on cloud-edge collaboration to achieve fabric defect detection for textile companies. By integrating Intel software and hardware products and technologies into China Telecom's MEC platform, the overall competitiveness of the MEC platform has been enhanced;

• 5G To C applications are also gradually emerging: Intel and Beijing Mobile have cooperated on 5G edge computing solutions and applied them to the popular VR e-sports of Qitian Group, unleashing the advantages of 5G's high speed, low latency, and large capacity, making VR image transmission faster, equipment simpler, and the experience more immersive;

• For some industry fields that require remote collaboration, Intel and China Unicom have jointly developed a 5G MEC+AR visualization solution, which is based on China Unicom's commercial MEC platform to achieve targeted deployment. It has also been commercialized in scenarios such as after-sales maintenance guidance, warehouse inventory and remote consultation.

• The comprehensive and in-depth cooperation between Intel and operators has provided extensive services to Chinese industry customers and has fully promoted the digital transformation and upgrading of the industry.

  
  

5G + Industrial Internet empowers new opportunities for the industry. Intel promotes 5G value creation through both soft and hard methods

The Industrial Internet promotes cloud-network integration through extensive network connections and data intercommunication, and promotes the evolution of industrial enterprises from single-point digitalization to end-to-end comprehensive digitalization in design, production, management, and service. The large bandwidth, low latency, and large connection characteristics provided by 5G can provide strong communication guarantees for the technical upgrade of process manufacturing and discrete manufacturing using advanced manufacturing technologies such as robots. The combination of 5G and the Industrial Internet will promote application innovation and bring new opportunities for the development of the industry.

To enable 5G-based industrial Internet innovation, Intel has launched a series of chip products, software solutions, and reference solutions to promote the integration of IT and OT. These solutions and related open source software provide industrial PaaS functions, which can help software developers and system integrators quickly develop and deploy industrial Internet applications. For example, Intel and domestic partners jointly deployed a product quality defect detection solution for automotive parts companies in Chongqing, using industrial Internet, edge computing and AI technology to improve the efficiency and accuracy of product defect detection.

In addition, due to the limitations of traditional Ethernet technology, 5G technology alone cannot fully meet the extremely low network transmission delay required by some current strong real-time industrial Internet applications. Therefore, the combination of 5G and time-sensitive network technology (TSN) will be the future development direction of the industrial Internet. In the latest 5G R16 version, time-sensitive networking is one of the key points. Intel started to deploy TSN technology very early, and the latest Atom processors and Core processors both provide support for TSN. Last year, network cards and TSN switches based on Intel technology also passed the TSN interoperability test organized by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Intel's software and hardware technologies will provide continuous technical support for the development of the 5G-based industrial Internet. For products and technologies, Intel is committed to providing full-stack solutions for every level of digital systems. By building an integrated and universal technology platform to integrate and optimize components at different levels, Intel will continue to create value for customers.

At the same time, Intel not only supports various partners including hardware, software, applications and services, adhering to the spirit of "water benefits all things" and serving the entire ecosystem, but also actively embraces open systems and strongly supports various open source systems. Open standards and open source software can accelerate innovation, help empower the ecosystem and build a collaborative model. Through the widespread adoption of open standards and open source software, a market with compatible and interoperable technologies will gradually take shape. In this market, technologies such as cloud, 5G, AI, data analysis, and automation will all be able to develop rapidly.

5G is just around the corner, and innovation is booming. Standing at the node of the times, Intel's leading technologies and products will play a more critical role than ever in the 5G field and digital transformation. Intel will start from the four perspectives of responsibility, inclusion, sustainability and empowerment, with the grand purpose of "creating technology that changes the world and benefits everyone on the planet", and with an open mind as always, it will work with all domestic industry partners to promote technological innovation and win-win cooperation, help the communications industry flourish, create a better life for people, and support China to become a leader in the global digital economy.