Leading "1 ms" Latency Metro Network Development with Standardization and Innovation

Digitalization is sweeping across the globe, and with it comes a shared understanding: Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are key to boosting the quality and efficiency of the digital economy. Three driving forces at the heart of the infrastructure underpinning the digital economy are computing power, storage capacity, and transmission capacity. Of these, transmission capacity defines how well data traffic can be moved across the network. The metropolitan network featuring access to compute resources with 1 ms latency has emerged as a critical infrastructure. Delivering new levels of transmission capacity, such networks not only provide the essential impetus to drive the intelligent upgrade of vertical industries, but unlock new possibilities for technological innovation and new industries. This helps cities fast-track digital and intelligent transformation. We can break down the impact of "1 ms" latency metro networks from three perspectives.

Industry development perspective

AI applications are diversifying and AI devices are seeing wider adoption worldwide. The AI industry has advanced from the phase of foundation model training to widespread application. Against this context, the "1 ms" latency metro network has become the critical lifeline connecting compute and devices.

Its powerful transmission capacity has been instrumental in a host of excellent use cases across industries embracing transformation. For example, in industrial quality inspection, the networks support instant invocation and update of distributed vision models to detect defects in real time throughout the production line. In city governance, the networks enable efficient coordination between massive numbers of IoT video devices and city AI hubs. This allows for the delivery of more intelligent public services such as smart communities and emergency response.

Building "1 ms" latency metro networks has a deeper significance. The networks make it possible to build compute resource pools between cities and regions, which allows for optimized compute allocation. All of this helps to ensure better utilization of compute and better quality of AI services. As computing networks integrate more deeply with AI, we will see more innovative technologies that enable ultra-low latency, such as storage-compute decoupling, and more innovative applications enabled by such technologies, such as remote surgery. These combined will drive AI development from individual intelligent applications to industrial-scale intelligence.

National development perspective

The construction of metro networks to support the broader computing infrastructure plays a vital role in the development of the national digital economy. "1 ms" latency metro networks are themselves a leading example of how a national integrated computing infrastructure can be built. They are critical to high-quality development of computing infrastructure and serve as the backbone of national initiatives such as Smart Cities and Digital China.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), together with five other government departments, released the Action Plan for High-Quality Development of Computing Infrastructure, which specifies higher computing access network capability as a must. In particular, the plan states that the latency between key computing facilities in urban areas should not be more than 1 ms. It highlights the need to improve the flexible and efficient computing access capabilities of edge nodes, so as to enable enterprises to access nearby computing power quickly, flexibly, and efficiently.

In another document, the Opinions on Deepening the Implementation of "Eastern Data, Western Computing", released by the National Development and Reform Commission along with other departments, the "1 ms" latency metro network is cited as a priority. "1 ms" latency metro networks enable computing nodes to collaborate within milliseconds. Through such collaboration, distributed compute resource pools can be constructed and end users can gain instant access to compute resources. This helps create an end-to-end ultra-low-latency service system, which provides robust compute for the high-quality growth of the national digital economy.

Societal development perspective

The "1 ms" latency metro network contributes to people's livelihoods in a unique way.

• In city governance, the ultra-low network latency enables instant responses to public services, delivering drastic improvements in key fields such as emergency management and traffic scheduling. Real-time data analysis and intelligent decision-making can significantly improve cities' operational efficiency and people's livelihoods.
• In healthcare, the computing network enables diagnosis and treatment systems to harness the power of foundation models. With ultra-low latency, geographical locations will no longer be a hurdle for people to access high-quality medical resources, and inclusive healthcare can become a reality.
• In the education sector, "1 ms" latency metro networks enable real-time interactive teaching platforms, which make knowledge transfer more efficient and equitable.
• For economic growth, "1 ms" latency metro networks serve as the critical infrastructure for the digital and intelligent transformation of industries. These networks transform production efficiency across a broader range of fields such as intelligent manufacturing and modernized services, and lay the groundwork for new models of business and innovation. "1 ms" latency metro networks greatly lower the barriers for SMEs to use intelligent technologies, promoting inclusive growth of the digital economy.
• For sustainable development, the networks feature optimized resource allocation and improved system-level energy efficiency, providing innovative solutions for green and low-carbon development.

To sum up, as the bedrock of the new infrastructure for the digital economy, "1 ms" latency metro networks can make significant contributions on many crucial fronts, helping to improve the operational efficiency and innovation of core phases in the digital economy. However, while actively promoting the large-scale construction and deployment of "1 ms" latency metro networks, we need to step up efforts in the following areas to make sure the networks are constructed in an efficient, high-quality way and deliver the value we expect.

Standardization is key to high-quality development

The MIIT released the Action Plan on Computing Power Interconnection and Interoperation in 2025. The action plan highlights the importance of standards for high-quality development of computing infrastructure capable of compute interconnection and interoperation. It specifies the requirements for key aspects such as communication network interoperation, compute resource interconnection, and application architecture adaptation.

The technology and business evolution of "1 ms" latency metro networks are highly relevant to this action plan. We should formulate standards focused on key technologies and innovative products, and build a standardized framework aiming for efficient, secure, and stable running of metro networks. Having standards in place from the early stages of infrastructure development will be immensely helpful to steer high-quality construction.

Overcoming technological bottlenecks unleashes innovation

"1 ms" latency metro networks will be needed in multiple scenarios. Industry-specific innovation is the key to addressing the requirements of these scenarios. Therefore, we need to coordinate efforts between industry, academia, and research and conduct cross-disciplinary joint research and development in order to drive breakthroughs, especially in core technologies such as computing network architecture and intelligent scheduling. In this way, we can continuously make the networks more energy-efficient and intelligent.

In addition, we should facilitate channels for converting technological research achievements into application, so that theoretical innovation can be brought to reality in smart manufacturing, smart cities, digital healthcare, digital education, and more.

International collaboration helps build a global ecosystem

We need to deepen international collaboration and build an industry ecosystem. To be specific, we can lower application costs and improve the inclusiveness of computing networks through joint innovation and technology sharing along the industry chain, engaging with stakeholders upstream and downstream. In this way, we can build a mutually beneficial international industry ecosystem.

In addition, we should pay close attention to the dynamics and trends of international standards, actively carry out international technical exchanges and discussions, and proactively participate in the formulation of international standards to build an open industry ecosystem for shared success.

Looking ahead, "1 ms" latency metro networks will serve as the backbone of the digital economy and they hold great development potential yet to unlock. We should use the standards system to continuously optimize the computing network architecture and deepen its implementation across scenarios such as smart cities, smart manufacturing, and digital twins, so that "1 ms" latency metro networks can bring true value to city intelligent twins. Besides this, we should also focus on the in-depth integration of computing networks with AI and IoT technologies to overcome key technological bottlenecks in areas such as edge computing and distributed scheduling, and build a new ecosystem that enables compute as a service.

When cloud computing first emerged, it mainly served enterprise IT systems. As technologies advanced, cloud services went on to reshape every aspect of our life and work. In the future, computing power will enable various intelligent applications through ubiquitous millisecond-level network access capabilities, just like water, electricity, and gas. Collaboration among people, data, machines, and networks will drive society towards a new era. The integration of compute and intelligence will unleash huge economic benefits, and redefine the lifestyles and development of future cities.