Building an All-Optical Premium Transmission for Intelligence to Seize Opportunities in the Intelligent Era

[Paris, France, October 8, 2024] At the 11th Huawei Optical Transport Innovation Forum held during NGON 2024 in Paris, France, Victor Zhou, President of Huawei Optical Transmission Domain, shared with global carriers the concept of building an all-optical premium transmission for intelligence in the AI era and Huawei's innovative solutions. He also noted that all-optical premium transmission for intelligence is becoming the foundation of the AI era. An all-optical premium transmission for intelligence features the optimal TCO, 1 ms latency, 99.9999% reliability, and ultra-high flexibility. It can provide deterministic premium network experiences for intelligent applications, helping carriers seize new opportunities in the AI era.

The explosive growth of AI services has become an inexorable trend. Indeed, the next 10 years will be the decade of intelligence. AI terminals will emerge, and AI applications such as artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC), digital assistant, and smart connected vehicles will see explosive growth. However, various intelligent applications and AI model training cannot go without the support of high-quality networks. Empowering intelligence with all-optical networks is the best way to seize opportunities in the AI era. With advantages such as cross-region high-speed optical networks and wide-coverage metro networks, carriers can provide users with better cloud, pipe, edge, and device resources. This will usher in huge opportunities in the AI era. Against this backdrop, an all-optical premium transmission for intelligence is a must. It must provide the optimal TCO, 1 ms latency, 99.9999% reliability, and ultra-high flexibility to meet the network requirements of various intelligent applications and computing connections. The four network features are as follows:

First, optimal TCO. Primarily, a cutting-edge 3D-mesh architecture is used to achieve the optimal TCO. It achieves efficient 3D connections to computing and precise investment. On the metro network, 100G/200G OTN moves downwards to the network edge to implement multi-service bearing on one network, thereby meeting requirements over the next decade. Moreover, the backbone rate is upgraded to 400G/800G, and the hotspot links of metro core traffic are upgraded to 800G–1.6T. This can maximize the benefits brought by the latest-generation rates, achieving the optimal per-bit cost. Additionally, live-network resources are fully utilized through path computation based on optimal resources, and services are provisioned with the minimum resources consumed.

Second, 99.9999% reliability. Full-mesh all-optical interconnection and ASON implement non-blocking premium connections and lossless collaboration between data centers, efficiently connecting the computing resources of carriers, industries, data centers, and the Internet, as well as synergizing computing centers. All this meets the requirements for high bandwidth and reliability in scenarios such as decoupled storage and computing for massive data and distributed collaborative computing.

Third, stable 1 ms latency. OXC and OTN are extended to the network edge. With an end-to-end (E2E) all-optical switching architecture, services are transmitted in one hop, achieving premium access to computing within 1 ms. This meets the ultra-low latency requirements of industrial manufacturing and real-time interaction design. With the help of the transmission digital map and intelligent management and control system, latency is visible, manageable, and controllable, facilitating latency monetization.

Fourth, ultra-high flexibility. Flexible grid ROADMs are deployed in an E2E manner, from the backbone network to the metro network and to the network edge, to build a flexible optical base that supports colorless, directionless, and contentionless (CDC) transmission of services. In the planning, engineering, and deployment phases, data is centrally stored in one database. This avoids wasting resources, shortens the service provisioning time, and helps achieve on-demand connection.

Victor Zhou concluded: "In the AI era, Huawei will continue to work with global operators to usher in an intelligent era with all-optical premium transmission networks, enable intelligent transformation in various industries, and seize opportunities in the intelligent era."