China builds an ultrafast Internet
(IHT)
Updated: 2006-09-26 08:37
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/25/business/chinet.php
China
has built its own version of an ultrafast next-generation Internet network that
promises to reduce the country's dependence on foreign companies, the state news
media reported Monday.
The China Education and Research Network has
linked 167 institutes and departments at 25 universities in 20 cities through
the Internet Protocol Version 6, China Central Television reported.
The
current Internet is run by Internet Protocol Version 4, which is limited by the
numbers of Internet addresses that can be created and lacks advanced security
functions, the report said.
The new protocol can work at speeds of 2.5
gigabytes to 10 gigabytes of information per second, around 100 times current
Internet speeds, the report said.
Researchers in the United States, Japan
and South Korea are also building IPV6 technologies, which are expected to gain
"significant global traction" by 2010, it said.
According to IPV6
information posted on Microsoft's Web site, IPV6 and IPV4 will be used
simultaneously over the coming years as Internet operators and home computers
gradually take on the new technology.
IPV6 is expected to be able to
handle an infinite number of Internet addresses, offer better security and be
more compatible with mobile phones and hand-held computing devices, the
Microsoft site said.
Chinese researchers received government approval to
research the new protocol in 2003 with the goal of helping domestic companies
build competitive hardware for the next-generation Internet, The China Daily
said. Internet routers and other equipment for the IPV4 system are now mostly
made by American companies like Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks, the paper
said.
Five Chinese telecommunications operators, including China Telecom
and China Mobile, are building IPV6 networks, with some expected to begin trial
runs by the end of the year. Chinese research institutes and manufacturers are
also working to standardize and commercialize IPV6 applications and hardware
with the hope of making Chinese technology companies more competitive globally,
the paper said.
Lenovo reports overheating
Lenovo Group, the
Chinese personal computer maker, said it was investigating a case in which a
Sony-battery- powered Lenovo notebook computer overheated this month and began
smoking and sparking, Reuters reported from Tokyo.
The malfunction, whose
cause is unclear, happened with a Lenovo ThinkPad T43 on Sept. 16 at Los Angeles
International Airport, but no one was injured, a Lenovo spokesman in Tokyo
said.
Dell and Apple Computer last month together recalled almost six
million Sony batteries, saying that they could produce smoke and catch fire. The
Lenovo notebook that became overheated was using the same type of Sony battery
that was a target of Dell and Apple Computer recalls, the Lenovo spokesman
said.
A spokesman for Sony said the company was cooperating with Lenovo
in investigating the overheating but added that Sony had not determined that the
notebook computer had been equipped with a Sony battery.
|
