China has launched the world’s first ultra-high-speed next-generation Internet backbone with a bandwidth of 1,200 G bits per second (1.2T), according to a Nov. 13 press conference at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
The backbone network, jointly developed by Tsinghua University, China Mobile, HUAWEI and CERNET.com Corporation, has a total transmission network extending more than 3,000 kilometers and connecting the cities of Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou.
The FITI backbone network is a major technological achievement of the national Future Internet Technology Infrastructure (FITI) project. It has successfully passed various tests, working stably and reliably since its operational test on July 31 this year.
Its operation is possible on the basis of key Chinese national-owned technologies, such as the 1.2T ultra-high-speed IPv6 interface of the new generation Internet core router and multi-path aggregation of such speeds. Both software and hardware are produced in the country.
FITI, built by 40 Chinese universities including Tsinghua, is based on IPv6 technology. The central nodes of the high-performance backbone network are distributed in 40 universities in 35 cities across the country.
In April 2021, FITI’s high-performance backbone network became operational, providing interconnection with IPv4/IPv6 testing facilities both in China and abroad.