Cold Thinking Behind the IoT Boom: China Telecom Addresses Drawbacks from Three Aspects
C114 News, April 13 (Lin Xiang) - At the "2017 China Communications Industry IoT Conference" held today, Zhao Jianjun, General Manager of the IoT Branch of China Telecom Corporation Limited, stated that the IoT industry is currently experiencing very high enthusiasm, but there are still many drawbacks in its development. China Telecom is mainly addressing these drawbacks from three aspects.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology previously issued the "IoT Development Plan (2016-2020)" which sets development goals: by 2020, an internationally competitive IoT industry system will be basically formed, with the overall industry scale, including sensing manufacturing, network transmission, and intelligent information services, exceeding 1.5 trillion yuan, and the proportion of intelligent information services significantly increased. The planning and layout of IoT sensing facilities will be promoted, with public network M2M connections exceeding 1.7 billion. IoT technology R&D levels and innovation capabilities will be significantly improved, a standards system adapted to industrial development will be initially formed, IoT scale applications will continue to expand, and a ubiquitous and secure IoT system will be basically established.
Zhao Jianjun stated that currently, all industries are full of passion for IoT development, with thousands of enterprises carrying out work related to IoT, so the overall industry enthusiasm is very high. However, there are still many drawbacks in IoT development. "There are many problems in terms of independent capabilities. For example, chips, communication processes, standards, and standardization. Especially in terminal usage, due to the close relationships between industries, the diversity of terminals also brings certain constraints to industrial development. In addition, operator networks face similar problems. Previously, 2G and 3G were mainly oriented toward person-to-person communication, and the overall capacity carrying capacity needs to adapt to the different rate requirements of IoT. Furthermore, there are also some problems in resource platforms in providing more convenient resource deployment for more users. In terms of applications, although many enterprises are participating, there are quite a few problems in the coordination between chips, terminals, and networks, as well as in the cooperation between chips and terminals."
To solve the above problems, Zhao Jianjun is addressing them from three aspects: building a very comprehensive network technology to provide basic connectivity capabilities; building its own platform, providing a better development environment for manufacturers through the opening of platform capabilities; and sharing the commercial value of the IoT era through industry alliances.
First, the first aspect is to build a very comprehensive network technology to provide basic connectivity capabilities. "Connectivity is an inevitable foundation for IoT. How to achieve intelligent and flexible connectivity is actually the fundamental capability for IoT development. On the basis of building this capability, we hope to create core platforms."
According to Zhao Jianjun, "In terms of network evolution, China Telecom is building a premium network with multiple networks coexisting, capable of meeting various bandwidth, rate, and quality of service guarantee requirements for connectivity."
In addition, China Telecom's determination in NB-IoT network construction is also very clear. Shortly after the core NB-IoT standard was frozen in June 2016, China Telecom quickly took action, initiating 5G bidding from October, with an expected deployment of 300,000 base stations nationwide, deployed alongside the existing C network, rapidly forming low-frequency 4G and NB-IoT network coverage. In December, we took the lead in opening the NB-IoT laboratory. Currently, nearly 50% of the nationwide base station deployment has been completed, and by the end of June, the world's largest NB-IoT network will be built, laying a solid foundation for the next stage of IoT development.
At the same time, China Telecom has also made substantial progress in building the ecosystem with partners. In 2016, China Telecom signed an NB-IoT smart city construction agreement with Huawei and Shenzhen Water Group, and recently signed smart home appliance agreements with Haier and Hisense.
Secondly, while building the foundational network, China Telecom is also actively building its own platforms, including connection management platforms and application enablement platforms. It hopes that through the establishment of public platforms and the opening of platform capabilities, it can provide a better development environment for application development manufacturers and more convenience for terminal manufacturers, greatly improving the cost and cycle of overall development and deployment.
"In terms of connection management platforms, China Telecom will build two platforms in the future, one for domestic and one for international markets," Zhao Jianjun revealed. "The domestic platform will provide services for domestic applications, while the international platform will provide services and assistance for industries and applications with international roaming. The domestic platform is currently being restructured, and both the international and domestic platforms will go live by the end of May, providing better support for the management of massive future connections."
In terms of business enablement platforms, China Telecom hopes that through platform development, it can provide complete development environments and development methodologies for application and development manufacturers and terminal manufacturers, including lightweight terminal systems, all of which will be opened to partners through the indoor management platform. Through China Telecom's efforts, the enablement platform will be built into a platform integrated with intelligent terminals, while also serving as an experience for lightweight applications and providing services for small and medium-sized enterprises with heavy service needs, offering more assistance to partners.
Finally, share the commercial value of the IoT era through industry alliances. In July last year, at the "2016 Tianyi Intelligent Terminal Trade Expo," China Telecom, together with Qualcomm, Huawei, ZTE, Intel, Bosch, SAP, IBM, Ericsson, Shenzhen Capital Group, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Southeast University, a total of 12 organizations, jointly initiated the establishment of the Tianyi IoT Industry Alliance. The Tianyi IoT Industry Alliance is demand-oriented, driven by collaborative innovation, and aimed at scale development. It leverages the role of leading enterprises in various fields and is committed to building four major functions: "resource sharing platform," "product aggregation platform," "innovation collaboration platform," and "capital matching platform," creating a cohesive ecosystem and enhancing the overall competitiveness of the IoT industry chain.
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