After more than 40 years of development, the fixed network is entering the fifth generation (F5G) represented by 10G PON, Wi-Fi 6, 200G/400G and other technologies. As the latest evolution of information and communication networks and the key information infrastructure, it will work with 5G to inject a steady stream of power to enable digital transformation and promote the rapid development of the digital economy. As a result, F5G has received widespread attention and great recognition from the industry in the past year, and it has increasingly released its social benefits and commercial value.

The large-scale deployment and application innovation of F5G depend on the close cooperation of the entire industry chain. The success of the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute (ETSI) F5G Industry Standards Working Group (ISG F5G) immediately focused on this. On July 8, Dr. Jiang Ming, Vice Chairman of ETSI ISG F5G, shared the progress of the organization’s work and the relevant practices of China Telecom as a pioneer in F5G at the CSPA 2020 Customer Strategy and Pain Analysis Conference held by Huawei, and called for global fixed The upstream and downstream links of the broadband network industry embrace F5G and win a bright future for all.

All-optical: Broadband network development direction

The network's role in driving the social economy continues to expand. World Bank research shows that every 10% increase in broadband penetration rate will drive an average GDP growth of 1.38%; "China's Digital Economy Development and Employment White Paper (2019)" points out that China's 180 million-core optical fiber network supports 31.3 trillion digital economy development of.

The sudden new coronary pneumonia epidemic highlights the indispensability of the network. Countless people are staying at home to prevent and control the epidemic, and the Internet has become the only way for their daily work, study, and entertainment; many companies have moved their businesses online and used networked equipment for manufacturing to ease the economic downward pressure during the epidemic; medical system utilization Remote consultations and other means bring together experts from all over the world to accelerate diagnosis and treatment of disease and the spread of experience; government departments publish and transmit information through online channels to effectively support epidemic prevention and control...

Jiang Ming pointed out that at present, the window period of the all-optical policy has been opened in the world. The construction of the all-optical network can be roughly divided into three echelons. The first echelon represented by China, Japan and South Korea has made rapid progress and has now entered the new infrastructure. During the upgrade. For example, in China, the "Dual G dual mention" was proposed last year, which requires that fiber-to-the-home access ports account for more than 90%, deploying gigabit broadband access networks in more than 300 cities, and pushing fixed and mobile broadband into the gigabit era. Since this year, ministries and commissions such as the Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have intensively spoken about the new infrastructure and proposed to "promote the optimization and upgrade of optical fiber broadband networks." Europe is the second echelon and has been recultivating broadband on copper cables for many years. All-optical networks are the main investment direction in a series of economic recovery plans announced by the European Union and European countries this year. Some slower developing countries have gradually realized the importance of all-optical networks and are planning and investing.

"All-optical is the general direction of broadband network development, which has reached consensus in the industry." She explained that optical connections are covering every data center, extending from every home to every room, from every office to every Desktops and even each machine. With the continuous extension of optical connections, the business scenarios of fixed broadband networks are gradually moving from home to enterprises, transportation, security, industry and other fields, enabling the transformation and upgrading of thousands of industries.

At the same time, other industries do not understand ICT, and the problem of ecological fragmentation in the fixed broadband network industry still exists. Therefore, it is necessary to pull through the information and communication industry and other industries, and focus on investment to form a scale effect, and wider collaboration is no longer urgent.

ETSI ISG F5G: Cohesion of the whole industry chain

To support the trend of the penetration of fixed broadband networks into the 2B field and better consolidate the strength of the upstream and downstream links of the global fixed broadband network industry to achieve the prosperity of ecology and applications, ETSI founded ISG F5G in December 2019. At the "Fibre to Everywhere" F5G online conference in February this year, ETSI announced the official launch of the working group. A 7-person leadership team has been formed, with intergenerational definitions, application cases, technical blueprints, architecture research, experience quality, and end users. Project team such as end-to-end management.

Jiang Ming said that ETSI ISG F5G currently has three main directions. The first is to define a clear generation and clear the direction of broadband network technology and industry development; the second is to build a unified standard and industrial platform, gather all parties to participate in the formulation of standards to promote ecological prosperity; the third is to study F5G business scenarios and business quality And user experience, define the network architecture and technology panoramic view.

Despite the haze of the epidemic, the development of ETSI ISG F5G is quite rapid. As of June, the number of member organizations of the organization has increased from the original 10 to 39, covering all aspects of "industry, research, and research", and most of them are leaders in the field of fixed broadband networks. In the second half of this year, we plan to release the first version of the F5G white paper and a series of F5G research reports.

Driven by ETSI ISG F5G, F5G has also been increasingly recognized by the industry. During the Huawei Global Analyst Conference on May 19, Wei Leping, Director of China Telecom Technology Committee, Luca Pesando, Chairman of ETSI ISG F5G, Deputy Secretary General of China Broadband Development Alliance, Ao Li, and CTO of Portugal Telecom Luis Alveirinho and Huawei Executive Director Tao Tao jointly launched the F5G Global Industry Development Initiative. On May 28, British telecommunications consulting company Analysys Mason released the "European All-Optical Position Document" at Forum Europe's "Realizing All-Optical Gigabit Society" event, pointing out that all-optical access networks are "strategic infrastructure."

ETSI ISG F5G has basically completed the induction and definition of fixed-line generation (from F1G to F5G). Jiang Ming said that looking back in the past, we can see that business and technology are closely integrated, driving each other and making progress together. Representative services have gradually evolved from voice/dial-up Internet access, web access, high-definition video, and 4K video to Cloud VR in the F5G era. Representative technologies have also evolved from PSTN/ISDN, ADSL, VDSL2, GPON/G.fast to 10G PON in the F5G era. And Wi-Fi 6.

At the same time, the organization proposed three key features of F5G's eFBB (Enhanced Fixed Broadband), FFC (Full-Fibre connection), GRE (Guaranteed Reliable Experience), compared with F4G to achieve a 10-fold increase in bandwidth and a 10-fold increase in the number of connections And the time delay is shortened by 10 times, which promotes the move from optical fiber to home to optical unit.

"We hope that willing companies and organizations can join the big platform of ETSI ISG F5G, embrace F5G, and together contribute to the development of the broadband network industry, and escort all the things of the Union." Jiang Ming called.

China Telecom Practice: Promoting the F5G era

China Telecom undoubtedly has an extremely important position in the exploration and practice of all-optical networks. In October 2018, the "Gigabit First City" was built in Shanghai, connecting gigabit broadband to nearly 20,000 communities in Shanghai, covering 10 million households, and achieving an end-to-end "10 Gigabit to building, thousand Trillion to households."

As the country accelerates the construction of new infrastructure, the fixed broadband network will also accelerate its evolution to F5G and promote the in-depth digitalization of Chinese society. In the book "New Infrastructure: New Structural Forces in the Digital Era", it has been proposed that "the construction and development of optical access networks will be carried out around the three aspects of Gigabit speed-up, optical connections, and ultimate experience."

"F5G and 5G jointly built the "foundation" of the new infrastructure, and will use "connectivity + transport capacity" to help "intelligence + computing power" and release the new kinetic energy of the digital economy. Jiang Ming said that China Telecom is currently committed to continuous Enhance all-optical capabilities and explore "F5G+X" applications to promote the full arrival of the F5G era.

In her speech, she shared China Telecom's F5G live network practices and innovative ideas. In the home field, China Telecom adhered to the strategy of cloud-network integration warfare, launched the "three gigabit" services of Gigabit 5G+Gigabit broadband+Gigabit Wi-Fi in many provinces, and launched fiber-to-room in Guangdong and other places ( FTTR) test. Under the coverage of Wi-Fi 6, the measured home broadband rate has increased by 6 times, and the smart home experience has been upgraded based on services such as 8K+Cloud VR.

In the field of government and enterprises, China Telecom's PON dedicated line has been widely used, covering multiple scenarios such as education, monitoring, cloud entry, and merchants. She pointed out that since operators in the F5G era are facing different services and scenarios from all walks of life, the network must have intelligent operation and maintenance and flexible and open features to enhance adaptive capabilities to carry new services that are currently unpredictable. This requires the evolution of OLT equipment architecture in optical access networks, SDN capability transformation, and the introduction of new technologies such as AI and machine learning as needed.

In the industrial field, China Telecom is leading the technological innovation and application of industrial PON, prospering the industrial PON industry ecology, and helping the development of the industrial industry and the transformation and upgrading of digitalization. For example, through the application of OLT slicing technology, the multi-network integration of the office network, monitoring network, and management system network in the factory is realized.

F5G has become a key enabler of digital transformation and a leading foundation for new infrastructure. Accelerating the implementation of F5G and enriching F5G applications to achieve "one industry with one industry" to play the leading role of the new infrastructure is not only the mission of the operator, but also the common responsibility and opportunity of the upstream and downstream links of the fixed broadband network industry. "Instead of sitting and talking, it is better to move forward", it is time to work together with leading companies such as ETSI ISG F5G and China Telecom to promote F5G development and create ubiquitous full connectivity!