China is rolling out the first network based on Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) technology, a major component of the next-generation Internet. Officials claim top transmission speeds of 2.5 to 10 gigabits per second, with a trial connecting schools in Beijing and Tianjin reaching 40 gigabits per second. Coverage is expected to expand to 100 universities in the near future.

More IP Addresses on the Way

A key advantage of IPv6 is that it can address the shortage of IP addresses. Under current Internet systems based on IPv4 technology, Chinese officials said, the U.S. controls 74 percent of some 4 billion IP addresses, while the number of addresses that China has is about equal to a single campus of the University of California, despite the fact that China has 80 million Internet users. As a result, Asian countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, are focused on IPv6 technology. The National Development Reform Commission (NDRC) set up a China Next-Generation Internet (CNGI) fund of 1.4 billion yuan (US$169 million) to support six next-generation Internet networks. Half of the funds are earmarked for CERNET2-related projects, while the remainder goes to five telecom operators.

ICANN Gives Nod

"We were a learner and follower in the development of the first-generation Internet, but we have caught up with world's leaders in the next-generation Internet ... and won respect and attention from the international community," says Wu Jianping, director of the CERNET expert committee, in a statement. Interest in IPv6 is growing, with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which officially introduced the technology in July, claiming it will provide trillions more addresses than the IPv4 system used by most networks today. The U.S. Department of Commerce handed ICANN the task of coordinating the Internet's naming and numbering system globally, as rapid growth in the use of the Web had raised fears about a potential scarcity of IP addresses. Networking giant Cisco recently announced it will invest $12 million in an R&D center that focuses on the development of IP-based networking technologies, including IPv6.