22/04/2020
According to the Financial Times, Huawei joined the Chinese Trade Union, China Telecom, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China to submit a proposal to ITU called “New IP”.
According to Huawei, New IP is a new type of internet protocol framework that can better support emerging network applications, such as multi-network and holographic communications. It can fight off the two network challenges faced by the existing IP protocols: the requirements of emerging applications for more efficient and customized networks, and the limitations and complexities the current TCP/IP protocols and frameworks have on the interconnection of ManyNets. Instead, New IP provides a better solution needed to handle the delivery and communication of all types of virtual objects.
In the article entitled “New IP framework and Protocol for Future Applications” by Huawei, three key characteristics of New IP are stated: variable IP address length that allows seamless support for communication across networks, semantic definition of IP addresses used to identify physical and virtual objects, and user-defined IP header allows end-user to specify a custom function to be performed on packets.
However, overseas observers suspect that the New IP will bring about monopoly, political control, as well as security problems. As to these questions, Huawei argued that the development of New IP was only to meet the technical requirements of the fast-growing digital world and did not incorporate any kind of control mechanism into the design. Huawei also stated that the architecture will have a “close command” function that will allow the central point to disconnect a specific signal source. So there will be no need to worry about security.
While other stakeholders regard it to be unnecessary as the existing IP protocols are applicable, a Huawei spokesperson responded that New IP will do much better with its top-down overall architecture.
Although New IP provoked sharp skepticism, it also got welcomed and praised. Some internet users pointed out that what the average person cares about is how fast, useful, and affordable a service is, rather than network neutrality.
Indeed, the emergence of the New IP plan justifies that the conflict around internet governance is a new space in which political and economic forces can be deployed in the 21st century.
