The external network environment needs to be broken through

6186M-17PT  Consolidating the network foundation and enhancing the connectivity of the industrial Internet is an important prerequisite for the deep integration of the two and the improvement of the quality and efficiency of the development of the industrial Internet.

Recalling the development process of industrial Internet interconnection, Zhou Hongren, executive deputy director of the former National Information Expert Advisory Committee, pointed out that the intelligence of manufacturing industry actually started very early. Since the 1960s, there are not only digital connotations, but also intelligent connotations, such as CNC machine tools. In the early 1990s, the Internet was popularized around the world, and all the information systems inside 6186M-17PT  industrial enterprises were opened up based on the Internet, and the Intranet realized the exchange of data and information between various departments of industrial production units. Around 2000, the internal network of industrial enterprises gradually expanded outward, and all upstream related parties of the enterprise were connected in a network. “However, from now on, the internal network of industrial enterprises has developed well, but the external network environment has yet to be broken through.” Mr. Zhou said.

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Different from the internal environment of the factory, the industrial external network covers the entire horizontal industrial process from production, logistics, sales, finance and other links, and links the production factors such as people, materials, capital, technology and information in the entire industrial production field, as well as the relationship and flow between these production factors. Zhou Hongren pointed out that the implementation of industrial external network environment transformation is the primary task to solve the interconnection of industrial enterprises.

6186M-17PT  For the construction of the external network of industrial enterprises, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Guiding Opinions on Deepening the “Internet + Advanced Manufacturing” Development of the Industrial Internet in 2017 (referred to as the “Guiding Opinions”), which put forward the requirements for the construction of low-delay, high-reliability, and wide coverage of the external network of industrial enterprises. The “Guiding Opinions” put forward the path of advancement from the two levels of backbone network and access network. The first is to upgrade the backbone network for the industrial Internet. With the goal of achieving broad, high-quality broadband access for industrial enterprises and industrial Internet service enterprises, the existing public Internet and high-performance private networks will be upgraded and constructed with software-defined networking and network virtualization technologies. The second is the upgrading and construction of new wireless networks. Using low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies such as narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), 6186M-17PT  the construction of a cellular network that can meet the needs of high density and low latency access to massive devices of the industrial Internet; Fully considering the access needs of industrial enterprises, the 5G network will be built into a wireless network that can serve industrial Internet business.

After the freezing of the 5G R16 standard, the high reliability, low delay and deterministic network capabilities of 5G will better enable scenarios such as smart factories and industrial automation, and the interaction and scheduling control of remote information and data between industrial enterprises is expected to be formed in the next few years, while giving birth to more new businesses and new applications. Although 5G can connect all devices to the same IT and OT fully integrated network in the factory, so as to realize the interconnection between devices, it is difficult to achieve in a short time.