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.



Google Reportedly Weighs Large Data Center in Vietnam

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
TT

Google Reportedly Weighs Large Data Center in Vietnam

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, US, November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

Alphabet's Google is considering building a large data center in Vietnam, a person briefed on the plans said, in what would be the first such investment by a big US technology company in the Southeast Asian nation.
Google is weighing setting up a "hyperscale" data center close to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's southern economic hub, the source said, declining to be named because the information is not public.
The investment, the size of which the source did not specify, would be a shot in the arm for Vietnam which has so far failed to attract major overseas capital in data centers due to its patchy infrastructure, with large tech companies preferring to house their centers in rival nations in the region.
According to Reuters, it was not clear how quickly Google will reach a decision on an investment but the source said internal talks are on and the data center could be ready in 2027.
A spokesperson for Google declined to comment about the data center plan.
Hyperscale centers are the largest in the industry, with power consumption usually similar to that of a big city.
A hyperscale data center with power consumption capacity of 50 megawatts (MW) could cost between $300 million and $650 million, according to estimates based on data published by real estate consultant Jones Lang LaSalle in a report this year on data centers in Vietnam.
Google's move was motivated by the large number of its domestic and foreign cloud services clients in Vietnam and the country's expanding digital economy, the source said, noting the Southeast Asian nation was one of the fastest-growing markets for YouTube, Google's popular online video sharing platform.
Currently the top data center operators in Vietnam, based on computing space, are industrial investment firm IDC Becamex and telecommunications company VNPT, both Vietnamese state-owned enterprises, according to an internal market report by an industrial park in Vietnam seen by Reuters.
The Nikkei reported in May that Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba was considering building a data center in Vietnam. Alibaba did not reply to a request for comment.