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Suddenly everyone is talking about the metaverse - a new digital world in which the physical world is mirrored, a world in which new economic systems, social relationships, and identity systems are created. How will digital infrastructure evolve to provide the required immersion, low latency, and ubiquity?
The metaverse is a concept that neatly embodies aspirations for the digital lifestyles of the future — a future in which the ideas behind Ready Player One become reality.
The development of the metaverse needs to be progressive and underpinned by shared digital infrastructure, standards, and protocols, and the increasing convergence and evolution of tools and platforms.
It also makes me recall Second Life, the online virtual world that was popular more than a decade ago. Second Life lacked mass appeal because the technology and digital infrastructure were not ready at the time, limiting user experience. To digitalize the real world, the metaverse needs to provide immersive experiences using extended reality technologies like VR, AR, and mixed reality.
It needs to mirror the real world with digital twins powered by big data, AI, smart applications, digital platforms, cloud computing, and connectivity. And its economic systems require blockchain technology.
Enabled by digital infrastructure, the immersion, low latency, and ubiquity expected of the metaverse will require jumps in user experience, network transmission, high-performance cloud-edge computing, and streaming technology. As a more realistic metaverse will generate more data, computing and storage capabilities will determine its scale and level of completeness.
In 2021, digital technology and infrastructure like connectivity, computing, and cloud saw rapid breakthroughs and wide application. AI, 5G, gigabit optical networks, and IPv6 gathered momentum and new infrastructure like supercomputing, autonomous vehicles, and the industrial Internet continued to advance. Digital transformation accelerated in various industries, including energy, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, giving us a glimpse of the digital world ahead.
We have entered a period of rapid digitalization. In 2022 and beyond, we hope to further unlock the value of ICT in the metaverse, as innovation breaks down barriers and digital infrastructure brings us closer to our vision and mission: To bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.
From 5G and gigabit optical networks to AI infrastructure & more, what can 2021 teach us about future tech tends?
A major technical breakthrough by Huawei will ramp up the performance of computing and storage networks.
China Unicom has implemented its CUBE-Net 3.0 technical architecture for next-level networks.
What are the major trends shaping the supercomputing industry?
Balancing regional computing resources is at the heart of China's plan to build a national system of data centers.
Inspecting the pipelines that carry oil and gas over thousands of km has been a monumental task frought with error - until now.
A simplified, integrated optical network can help enterprises overcome the digitalization bottleneck caused by multiple co-existing networks.
Premium private lines are the answer carriers need to provide commercial buildings and SMEs with premium services.
OptiX SuperSite can provide industry and home users with high-speed connectivity through carriers' experience-centric all-optical networks.
Beijing Tongren has deployed advanced solutions to adapt its hospital infrastructure from digital to green and intelligent.
A gigabit-powered digital office solution that provides a superior experience for seamless collaboration anytime, anywhere.