Recently, China Mobile Communications Group Hunan Co., Ltd. (China Mobile Hunan) and Huawei jointly built the first 400G all-optical transport network in central China. They achieved this feat by deploying cutting-edge solutions such as ultra-high-speed 400G, all-optical cross-connect (OXC), automatically switched optical network (ASON), and iMaster NCE. The project aims to build a high-bandwidth, low-latency, highly reliable, flexible and agile all-optical bearing and grooming premium network throughout Hunan province, with the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Group as the core. Its primary purpose is to contribute to the digital and intelligent development of the province.
In recent years, China Mobile Hunan has stayed true to its principle of steady development, and takes a proactive approach to new communication infrastructure construction. The 400G all-optical transport network deployed throughout the province features the following:
- Ultra-low latency: China Mobile Hunan has deployed OXC at network grooming nodes to realize all-optical grooming with ultra-low latency, and has adopted the colorless, directionless, contentionless, and gridless (CDCG) technology to improve the grooming efficiency of core nodes. In this way, it builds a flexible and agile super transmission capability pool, and establishes 1 ms, 3 ms, and 9 ms ultra-low-latency circles covering the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Group, Hunan province, and the whole country, respectively. These further improve the digital interaction and computing power scheduling between networks, areas, and enterprises.
- Ultra-high bandwidth: The single-wavelength 400G technology has been deployed at core nodes, with the maximum single-fiber capacity reaching 48 Tbps. This technology provides ultra-high bandwidth and reduces the per-bit network construction cost to meet the requirements of heavy and bursty traffic between enterprises and computing centers.
- Ultra-high reliability: When a network fault occurs, the deployed ASON solution automatically searches for restoration paths, achieving service availability exceeding 99.999%. This truly realizes "on-demand usage, always-on services".
As for edge nodes, China Mobile Hunan keeps improving the coverage breadth and depth of OTN. China Mobile Hunan OTN enterprise private network has more than 1600 OTN enterprise access points throughout the province, with OTN optical node density reaching up to 0.7 site/10,000 people in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Group. The wide coverage and low latency of all-optical networks paves the way for the interconnection of everything, narrows the gap between cities and rural areas, and indiscriminately provides diverse network information services for all regions for the benefit of the entire public.
Now, China Mobile Hunan is building a Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan data center cluster, with over 40,000 racks being installed in data centers throughout the province. The three cloud center nodes of China Mobile and the China Mobile e-commerce headquarters have been set up in Hunan, supporting core cloud services of countless Internet enterprises.
On May 16, 2023, China Mobile Hunan officially launched the "Optical Future" brand, with the 400G all-optical computing power network serving as the foundation of the "Optical Future" network infrastructure, enabling development through innovation. Looking ahead, China Mobile Hunan will continue to improve the network experience in various industries and facilitate industrial digitalization, ultimately contributing to the booming digital economy in the province.
