China Launches Ultra-High-Speed Next-Generation Internet Network

The ultra-high-speed next-generation Internet backbone boasts a total transmission network spanning more than 3,000 kilometers. Reuters
The ultra-high-speed next-generation Internet backbone boasts a total transmission network spanning more than 3,000 kilometers. Reuters
TT

China Launches Ultra-High-Speed Next-Generation Internet Network

The ultra-high-speed next-generation Internet backbone boasts a total transmission network spanning more than 3,000 kilometers. Reuters
The ultra-high-speed next-generation Internet backbone boasts a total transmission network spanning more than 3,000 kilometers. Reuters

China has launched the world's first ultra-high-speed next-generation Internet backbone with a bandwidth of 1,200G bits per second (1.2T), according to a press conference held at the Tsinghua University in Beijing on Monday, as reported by the Chinese news agency, Xinhua.

The ultra-high-speed next-generation Internet backbone, jointly developed by the Tsinghua University, China Mobile, HUAWEI and CERNET.com Corporation, boasts a total transmission network spanning more than 3,000 kilometers linking the three cities of Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou, according to the German news agency.

The FITI backbone is a major technological achievement of the national Future Internet Technology Infrastructure (FITI) project.

Since its trial operation on July 31 this year, the FITI backbone has been running stably and reliably, successfully passing various tests.



Salesforce Gains as Software Firm Bets on AI Tools to Power Growth

The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
TT

Salesforce Gains as Software Firm Bets on AI Tools to Power Growth

The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Shares of Salesforce gained more than 5% on Thursday as investors cheered the customer relationship management software maker's upbeat quarterly results and its artificial intelligence push to drive growth.

The company has been heavily investing to integrate its AI technologies into existing products, such as its messaging platform Slack, to enhance their capabilities and attract more customers.

"We continue to see Salesforce as an under-appreciated AI winner as its differentiated data and early success in creating/deploying GenAI agents," Reuters quoted Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan as saying.

Wall Street was concerned that tempered cloud spending would affect Salesforce in a tough economy, but the software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm reported better-than-expected revenue, profit and margins in the second quarter.

Salesforce also raised its profit forecast for the year ending January 2025, as margins continue to expand, thanks to its restructuring efforts last year.

The stock is trading at 24.49 times that of Wall Street's profit expectations, compared with 52.11 for SaaS peer ServiceNow and cloud contact center firm Five9's 13.30.

Salesforce is set to add $14 billion to its market capitalization if premarket gains hold. The company's valuation stood at $248 billion as of Wednesday's close.

"We think these results alone are not good enough to drive a sustainable rally from here. For that, we need more catalysts, which could come with the new AI solutions," which are set to be showcased at its event Dreamforce and launched in October, Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow said.

Some analysts believe that sustained growth in the coming quarters can come through customer support platform Agentforce, which is not yet commercially available.