China’s next-generation Internet is a world-beater
March 12, 2013
Artist rendering of city-sized cloud computing and office complex being built in China (IBM)
An open-access report published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society last week details China’s advances in creating a next-generation Internet that is on a national level and on a larger scale than anything in the West, New Scientist reports.
At the root of the problem are “two major gaps in the architecture of the Internet”, according to a report from the New England Complex Systems Institute, compiled in 2008 for the U.S. Navy and released to the public this week.
Inability to block malicious traffic as a whole.
China is already coming up with better defences. One of the most important aspects of its next-generation backbone is a security feature known as Source Address Validation Architecture (SAVA). Many of the existing security problems stem from an inability to authenticate IP addresses of computers that try to connect to your network. SAVA fixes this by adding checkpoints across the network. These build up a database of trusted computers matched up with their IP addresses. Packets of data will be blocked if the computer and IP address don’t match.
The Internet is running out of room.
Multi-dimensional, scalable, next-generation Internet architecture (QoS = quality of service) (credit: Ying Liu et al./ Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A)
The current standard for assigning space to computers — known as Internet Protocol Version Four (IPv4) — uses a numbering system which has just under 4.3 billion possible spaces. Internet engineers have been working on the new standard for years. It is called IPv6 and will boost the number of available internet slots by a mind-boggling 80,000 trillion trillion times. But progress on IPv6 has been painfully slow, and time is running out. IPv4 slots are due to run out in multiple regions around the world this year.
“China has a national internet backbone in place that operates under IPv6 as the native network protocol,” says Donald Riley, an information systems specialist at the University of Maryland, who also chairs the Chinese American Network Symposium.. “We have nothing like that in the US.”
China is already running next-generation services.
Internet service provider 3TNet provides television over IPv6, streaming programs in high definition. It is the basis for a system that monitors and controls traffic flow over the Internet and provides remote medical services — even long-distance, real-time violin lessons in high definition. All have the potential to reach more people at higher speeds than any equivalent service on the old Internet.
Comments (65)
by Cybernettr
Maybe there wouldn’t be critical comments on this story and on China if it didn’t make such wild claims. “China’s next-generation Internet is a world-beater.” Really? “…China’s advances in creating a next-generation Internet that is on a national level and on a larger scale than anything in the West…” If they’re talking in terms of sheer size and compared to any individual Western country, then not surprising, since China is the most world’s populous country. And I hardly think it’s “stereotyping” to question how much effort will be used for censorship in a communist country.
by Paul
Our Fascism is worst than their Communism. Sure hope you don’t believe in the word democracy. Fact: we are supposed to be a Republic, not a democracy.
by wuxing
A new era of censorship. I’m so exited.
by Bri
The Chinese people have been introduced to the concepts of hacking. These don’t need to be in the realm of computers. They will find work arounds to express their feelings. It won’t be as fast as the Internet, but it will thrive underground.
by per
That article did not explain a system of censorship, as far as I understand, but how China is building a modern IT infrastructure in general. As pissed of as I am about having to use VPN tunnels as soon as I am in China, or find places with permission to have open connections to the west, this is just one way of doing it. In the West there are other control systems — mainly by pulling all our minds in the same direction through media and taking control of our Internet habits through large corporations.
The fact is that the Chinese are doing some pretty smart and progressive stuff, but most people in the West cannot see that because their eyes are blinded by stereotypes dating decades back. I thought this was an interesting article.
by PA
Yes, the article was interesting. And you do introduce a different viewpoint which we all appreciate.
But, due to access to information because of the work I am part of, I still have quite a different perspective from what you present to us here in this venue.
Yes, they are attempting to implement a nifty bit of technology and yes, many of them are attempting to become even more capitalistic but the communist party line is still in place, most especially in the provinces away from the big, shiny cities.
But, you’ve been to China and you’ve seen what you’ve seen and you’ve filmed what you’ve filmed – I was not here to disparage the Chinese, only to talk about the technology.
So, personally, very sorry if my comments caused you any distraught thoughts or beliefs or anger at some of us here having, ahhh, stereotypical viewpoints. . Dui bu che.
Zai Jian.
by per
Well, you know, the reason I react like this is that I think media today has created a very slanted and one-sided image of China, and I am for fairness in general. For instance, if the article had been about some cool tech developments in the US, do you think anyone in his right mind would start commenting on how bad the US political system is? What does that have to do with it? But as soon as China is mentioned, a bunch of self-appointed political analysts immediately pop up with these kind of comments (and yes, I dare calling them stereotype, cause that’s just what they are). It just makes me annoyed, can’t help it.
All countries have their goods and bads, and basically we humans are a bunch of jerks in general. So why play the holier-than-thou-game? And all this democracy-dictatorship, communism-capitalism — aww, is it not time to see beyond the simplistic. How much democracy is it in the US gladiator game elections anyway? Illusions, politics, big business, a big game playing around with us like pawns. The “democratic, free world” has become a club. You join it and buy the western package wholesale, with all that it entails. It is not good, not bad, just is. If it works it is good, otherwise not. The world is becoming tricky, or was always, and it is up to us “free people” to actually educate ourselves about the intricacies of it.
by PA
Yes, moving away from the topic, it is time for people of the world to learn more about other denizens of the world and learn from each other, hopefully the best parts and leave the rest in the trash heap.
Many, many people (too many) use self-filtering to weed out the uncomfortable and live in ever more isolated environment, very sad. Just because some one is different, they believe them to be bad without ever learning about them.
Nothing wrong with healthy give and take dialogue.
by Paul
100% on target study the true definition of Fascism and all will understand what we in the US truly support. Very sad and we can’t do anything about it.
by Paul
Yes !
by snake0
China didn’t invent IPv6. This is just pro-communist propaganda. This technology not a ‘world’ beater. The only thing that will be beaten is the civilians who dare to post anything bad about their government on this new Internet. I’ll stick with good ol’ Internet 1.0 thanks.
by Paul
Communist ! China is more capitalist & free then us. Try traveling . No cameras, no police, no raps, no fraud, no junkies, no pedophiles. Wake up America, join it or fall. Unless u learn, study, etc. you’ll keep backing the worthless killings like Nam, Iraq, Etc. china hasn’t kill anyone in over 40 years.
by PA
Not interested in any arguments but the Chinese government is starting to add cameras. But throughout most of the cities, they police and soldiers as their eyes and forcibly stop any filming or large groups from forming. This is a problem – you cannot take photos of anything you wish. Look at the journalists who attempted to film 61398, the group and building where a lot of Intellectual Property theft emanates from and ends at.
There is still a great deal of heavy handedness going on in China. Sorry, you cannot just do what you want as in some other countries.
I’m just providing a bit of input for this tangential topic away from the primary topic of advanced Internet topologies and other platforms.
by per
How many of you guys have actually been to China? I see so much stereotype here. I have spent quite some time there, living with ordinary people and travelling around — since my wife is Chinese. I am a film maker and was carrying around a pro cam, and never ever did anyone tell me to stop filming — except when they want money for pro filming, in certain parks etc.
The main problem in China these days is not heavy handed government control. It is rampaging industry and uncontrolled capitalism. It is funny how most westerners still think of China as it was 30 years ago. Wake up and learn!
by PA
Thank you
by PA
Sorry, to add a bit more input on this tangential topic away from the primary topic of advanced Internet topologies and supporting technology.
China is somewhat more strong-armed than what many, many other people believe. One cannot just go around taking photos of what they want, look at the journalists who attempted to film the building where the PLA Unit 61398* group is headquartered (they are the ones supposedly most responsible for intellectual property theft). And as to cameras, the Chinese government is adding more cameras and where they do not have cameras, they use police and soldiers as their eyes and ears to break up groups from forming and other events/activities against the governments’ desires….
They are still communistic, but they want to become more capitalistic – the people certainly want to be more capitalistic…
*PLA – People’s Liberation Army
Check out this one story (one amongst many, so please do your own research): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/inside-unit-61398_n_2722356.html
by snake0
I know its trendy to hate on America and all but have you ever actually been to China? Most of the ‘tourist’ regions in Beijing for example don’t even allow you to cross the road without passing through heavily guarded subterranean crossings and having your bag checked. Yes travelling by air is a nightmare but imagine having to go through this process just to CROSS THE ROAD. There are railings everywhere and you feel like a cooped chicken. Seriously frightening shit.
by per
You probably went to Tianamen Square, which is the only place where I saw this in China. And what do you mean, travelling by air is a nightmare? In fact, last time I travelled to China I was harassed by security guards at the Stockholm airport, while those in Beijing were very polite and friendly.
What I find seriously frightening today is that the world is dominated by an aggressive almighty nation controlled by corporations, spending more than the rest of the world on military weapons, using them in countries all over, and controlling most of the media at that — making us all think that they are The Land of the Free, no matter what. Eeek!
by Bri
Choice is an illusion between those with power and those without.
by Paul
6 years and totally felt free.
by Jason
Last time I was in China – I traveled to several cities and took one internal flight, and didn’t experience anything like you are describing. Granted I didn’t go to Bejing so maybe it is something specific to there. But that’s a bit like someone going to Washington DC and saying all of America is similar.
by steve
Ah the words of somebody who has never traveled and gets their world view from US tv.
by Paul
100% correct….
by Bri
I understand the reservations to my comment” a similar system”. I refer to the elements that would be beneficial. We have human rights that should be bolstered. Freedom of speech and do process of law are among our top rights. I am not interested in restricting opinions, even if they are disturbing. We still should adopt many of the features outlined, while protecting the liberties we enjoy.
by Dave Evans
How did you calculate the IPv6 number? (IPv6 is a 128 bit address space – see: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2%5E128)
340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 ?
by Gabriel
I’ve heard more than once about this sort of stuff, “Internet 2.0″…I’m happy this went into detail so I can better understand this.
Like others however, “inability to block malicious traffic as a whole”? Define “malicious”….these next-generation services, sound at any rate, appealing…and yet, if it means that the Chinese will only have a more censured and controlled internet experience because of how much more efficient this thing apparently is…then I can’t really say I’m jealous of them or anything.
Not to say, of course, that we can’t upgrade our tech without being censured more, obviously….unfortunately, the political situation in China makes this article sound superficial: having a faster, more durable Internet is wonderful and all, but not if it means the government will have better control over what people actually do on it.
by PA
Internet 2.0 – it’s been here in the U.S. since 1996 (very few regular citizens are even aware of it – people laughed at Al Gore when he talked about the 2nd Internet – it was not a joke).
It is primarily an ever growing network for universities, businesses, research groups & think tanks and some businesses or any organization willing to pay a steep price to get access to this VERY fast network – think 8.8Tb* (terabit).. It continues to grow across the country and might even eventually be accessible by everyone at some point (I hope).
http://www.internet2.edu/ Check it out.
Then too, companies like Cisco is trying to move up ‘Net backbone speeds to 100Gb (gigabit) and more.
Kilobit – then Megabit – then Gigabit – Terabit* – Exabit – Petabit – and on…
by Gabriel
Thank you very much for clarifying and enlightening me :)
by Dinoguy1000
Check up on your SI prefixes: peta- falls between tera- and exa-, it does not fall after exa-. ;)
Bit – Kilobit – Megabit – Gigabit – Terabit – Petabit – Exabit – Zettabit – Yottabit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_prefix
=)
by PA
Ahhh, criminy – good catch, my typo… mea culpa
I also intentionally stopped where I did ’cause I don’t believe many would care about anything higher (I could be wrong…).
by bob
When the US government becomes as interested in monitoring and censoring internet traffic as the Chinese government is, we’ll see this coming stateside.
by Anne Marie Tobias
When? Yeah, right. The worst part is that we’ll end up having to buy Chinese hardware because it will be the technology leader in watching users (and the **AA, wants to be able to watch users…) So the Chinese made hardware will almost certainly have Chinese made back doors. Welcome to the 21st century.
by PA
Not to be contrary or rude but whenever we do attempt something that might be beneficial, as you are suggesting, there are so many other individuals who jump in screaming about privacy violations.
Personally, I still do not understand that anger and concern.
I work in the cyber security field, in the corporate and government side for a long time now, and there is just no way government agencies can, or want to, read any personal conversations/content. All many of us are concerned about is detecting and blocking (mitigating) malicious software/attacks and determining who initiated the attack (attribution).
But Bob, I’m with you – government does need to make an even louder noise about monitoring and censoring. At least, make a reasonable argument for protecting this nation.
Good points.
by Dennis R.
How do you define cyber security? Is the security you provide for the protection and safety of individuals or businesses and their owners or for the government? Does your vision of cyber security defend the Bradley Mannings and Aaron Swartzs of the world? Or does it allow telecom providers to limit our actions if we visit sites they deem undesirable or try to jailbreak the smart phones we thought we owned?
Here’s a snippet from the web I saved which addresses the issue of individual privacy in a way that I hadn’t considered but which struck me as all too possible in the wrong hands. “Everyone has something to hide and usually no one cares. By surveilling everyone, you catch the benign breaches of law and taboo. If the public are all guilty, the executive part of the government can selectively enforce laws, essentially giving them both judicial and legislative power, which defeats the whole point of separation of powers.
–Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal [Zach Weiner]”
If we’re not to be trusted by the government or the police then why are we expected to prove our loyalty to them?
Despite their abysmal performance in regards to the freedom of their people, do we fear China that much? Are we really comfortable with the lesser of two evils? China has become the boogeyman of the current age of fear. They have four times our population and thus four times the number of geniuses who can work on problems. Can’t we just admit that they’ve got a huge advantage over us even though it’s a humbling thing to admit?
Fear not, we have more billionaires than they do. How reassuring is that?
by PA
Thank you.
by Paul
Protect our nation ? Let’s be sincere, we are #1 in mass destruction, wars, killing, people in prison, corruption, etc., etc. we should be glad that a country like China is and has been a peaceful nation that only attacks via spying thru the Internet. Not like Russia, Israel, with physical and violent spies.
by Tom
Russia, Israel, US, UK, …
by Paul
We are already doing it & we are just cry babies . Just like the Bush/Nazi family.
by Paul
We’re already doing it more……
by Thomas
Define “malicious traffic”…does it include anyone using an encrypted VPN service? Anyone using Startpage or Hushmail? I’ll bet it does…I’m sure the Joe Lieberman’s and Chris Dodd’s of the world would love such a system imposed in the US and EU. For all of its economic and technical advances, do not forget that China is still a one-party police state with one of the most egregious firewalls in the world. If you believe in freedom of expression/information at all, these are not the people to emulate.
by Kevin
I agree…
by Chimera
It makes 3 of us then, who disagree that “would be wise to adopt a similar system for the rest of the world.”
by PA
I hear what you’re saying and completely agree with freedom of expression but we do have to do something about malicious software, spam and attacks in this country.
We have to have some kind of nationwide smart network using the best software possible such as: heuristics, AI, expert systems, cloud networks – all in order to stop so much of this garbage traversing the Internet. I am getting even sicker of spam and other attack attempts.
I will tip my hat to the Chinese though, they are definitely building a state of the art network. Unfortunately, as you indicated, it’s going to further hamper the Chinese people in being free to express themselves without retribution.
We need to build a better network, without compromising anyone’s right to express themselves and not worry about being snooped upon.
You’re completely right – we should emulate the Chinese leadership, at least not in their heavy handedness in control of what their people can say. They are still communistic even if they are being highly capitalistic in every thing they do…
by Bri
They now have a defensive wall around their Internet. We are sitting ducks to their attacks. It’s a major imperative to fix our system.
by bob
Someone always finds a way to break through Chinese walls.
by Aaron
Yes, especially Mongolians.
by Bri
Our Internet has had tremendous flaws since it’s inception. We would be wise to adopt a similar system for the rest of the world. China will take the lead if we don’t. We have our work cut out for us. We aste too much time with bickering.
by Chimera
Dictators will be able to shut anyone they want up.
by Mike M
The Chinese didn’t develop this tech overnight. Our legislators, over that same period of time, could not even come to consensus on a national budget. We are losing the tech race to China, Germany, Israel and even India while our government dithers. Next election cycle: NO INCUMBENTS!
by Editor
Yes, and full access 24×7 via streaming HD to ALL congressional discussions, with real-time parallel discussion and commenting via parallel streaming, including bills and live concurrent investigations, with simultaneous social-media feeds and blog updates. We need to either drag closed government, kicking and screaming, into current open reality, or replace it with one BY and FOR the people.
by Bri
Amen to that brother! I mean sista er something like that.
by Roberto
Are you planning to elect Grillo’s 5 Stars Movement in its US version?
by trakk
His movement dint invent the idea. That idea or very similar ideas to it have been existing in peoples consciousness since many years
by Roberto
Never said or thought they invented the idea.
They’re just the first political party to be elected on that idea.
by trakk
Okay.
And someone advocating that idea doesnt mean, they are planning to elect the movement.
by trakk
If you were saying that as a joke….ignore what i said.
by Editor
You mean Mussolini lite? :)
by GAUSS
Double amen to that, Editor.
by bodazyphir
Nuff sed
by TomZarek
Will this SAVA system allow the Chinese government to impose a centralized control structure on their internet?
by Editor
Yes.
by Jack Reeve
So, their internet backbone is resilient and difficult to corrupt while the west’s is not. Given their penchant for exploitation and perturbation of the existing grid, and their own paranoia, things should start getting very interesting in about 2 years.
by Durabys
In what a way?
by Bazza
I lived in China for 12 and a half years as late as 1 year ago and as early as 1984. I admit censorship on the superficial level seem better and I know for a fact on a deeper level it’s quite deep. I lived in a compound with a lot of Embassy people and we all know our homes are bugged and our mail is censored. For what it’s worth the U.S. seems to be much more censored than when I left 13 years ago..
by PA
Hello Bazza, you have an interesting perspective, do you mind if I ask you, what do you mean by the US is more censored now? Seriously, honest discussion, none of the other nonsense going on in other conversations.
– I was not going to reply as this article was specifically on advanced networking in China, but I had to ask my question —
We can nearly say what we want at any time without retribution or having it deleted from the ‘Net as Chinese leadership does (i.e.-Weibo having full time employees looking for and deleting anything that might be embarrassing or against the government – multiple stories on this and I can provide links if need be).
I’d really like to know how you mean censorship has increased in the U.S.
On the other hand, there is so much news being made around the world that is constantly being filtered and blocked before people in China see it. This is because the Chinese leadership does not want their people to see it or become cognizant of it out of fear it will continue to prompt their citizens to want more democracy and transparency (yes, in the U.S. we still have some transparency issues).
thanks.