AGI Ultra Cross Connects Kick-off Convention

On October 24, the "AGI Ultra Cross Connects Kick-off Convention", held at Dinghao DH3 in Beijing, was hosted by the Zhongguancun Ultra Cross Connects New Infrastructure Industry Innovation Alliance and China Smart Computing Industry Alliance, and co-organized by Neolink and Dinghao DH3 in Beijing.

This event brought together many industry experts, scholars and industry figures to discuss the development trends and technology innovation directions of large models, new computing power, and next-gen AGI infrastructure, including Ma Ju, general secretary of the Zhongguancun Ultra Cross Connects New Infrastructure Industry Innovation Alliance; Wu Jian, CEO of Neolink; Yu Hong, deputy general manager of the Dinghao DH3 Project; Liu Ming, deputy general manager of the Baidu Smart Cloud Ecosystem Cooperation Department; Sun Jian, general manager of the Huawei Enterprise Systems Department; Huang Hongyi, of the Huawei Standard Patent Department; Wang Hua, Moore Threads R&D director; Pan Jun, Asterfusion COO; Liu Jun, Zenosic Technology chief engineer; Li Jingying, Infrawaves COO, Chen Long, Neolink AICloud director; Zhang Xianguo, Neolink AINet director; and other guests. The atmosphere at the convention was lively, and as the blueprint of a future digital world was outlined by many guests, the image of a new technological concept and a grand vision for the future gradually became clear - Ultra Cross Connects (UCC).

Vision: Ultra Cross Connects (UCC) is Imminent

During the opening speech, Ma Ju, general secretary of the Zhongguancun Ultra Cross Connects New Infrastructure Industry Innovation Alliance, took the lead in introducing the topic: "Can the existing Internet handle the needs of model training, network transmission, computing power supply, and so on in the era of large models?” Judging from the opinions of many guests, it was obvious that there is an urgent need to establish a new network architecture for the AGI era. This brand-new technology points the way forward for Ultra Cross Connects (UCC). UCC includes ICC and DCC, namely Intelligent Cross Connects (ICC) and Decentralized Cross Connects (DCC). ICC refers to a smart inference application portal with AI inference capabilities and various innovative generative AI applications; DCC refers to the "brain-based neural network” that constitutes the new digital world, with its distributed attributes that are ubiquitous and present at all times. UCC is not a simple upgrade to broadband. It is a new model of smart interconnection between all things, as well as a vision of a future world where people, machines, models, and data are more closely connected.

Ma Ju, general secretary of the Zhongguancun Ultra Cross Connects New Infrastructure Industry Innovation Alliance

Large models are an important trend in the field of AI, and their emergence is bringing unprecedented value to human society. At the same time, large models offer unlimited opportunities, but also present challenges. The industry should especially note that Qualcomm released an AI white paper in September 2023 which proposed that "hybrid AI is the future of AI." Its latest Snapdragon8 Gen3 chip features an NPU with 73Tops computing power, making it possible to run 10 billion parameter-level models on the terminal side. This indicates that large models will also enter a new stage of development, and there will be new challenges for model algorithms, deployment, inference, distribution, and so on. Although computing power is the most important factor, the future of hybrid AI will require AI innovation platforms that are oriented toward individuals, privacy, and reliable distribution. This will inevitably lead to changes in network architecture, protocols, storage, and other formats.

UCC's vision and goal is to launch a second physical connection type in addition to broadband Internet access, the AINet. The AINet is an innovative concept to resolve the performance, privacy, and security issues of hybrid AI. It is also the best option, from the physical layer to the software layer, to find large-scale distributed deployment resources, thereby improving efficiency and performance. Zhang Xianguo, head of Neolink's AINet, said, "AINet is more than just technology and deployment. We are the start of a new form of cooperation and implementation." In the future, more partners will be required as we iterate and innovate in an open and shared manner under UCC framework to build an innovation base that can support the ubiquitous AI applications in the future.

Throughout the process of large model training, inference, and innovative application development, there are many engineering technical challenges, so the industry needs a mature and stable large model development platform. "Neolink's AICloud is a one-stop service that can assist clients handle the full life cycle management of large models," said Chen Long, director of AICloud at Neolink.

To fully activate the massive potential of UCC, and to form the core of a new driving force for openness and open-source software based on consensus, UCC will follow the "engineering path" laid out by the AGI Ultra Cross Connects (UCC) Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Movement and prepare to establish a "think tank” for the UCC Technical Committee as a means to promote the development of this new type of data connection with "carbon-based lifeform characteristics".

Engineering Path: the "Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Movement" Campaign Illuminates the New Digital World

On the eve of the event, the Zhongguancun Ultra Cross Connects New Infrastructure Industry Innovation Alliance and the China Smart Computing Industry Alliance jointly issued the "AGI Ultra Cross Connects 'Hundreds and Thousands of Small Actions' - October 24 Programmers Day Declaration" to lay out the UCC "Hundreds and Thousands of Small Actions" plan. At the event, the Ultra Cross Connects "Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Movement" campaign lighting ceremony marked the official launch of the project, which began at Beijing's Dinghao DH3 on October 24 Programmers Day", but has plans to change the country and the future.

In Ultra Cross Connects's "Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Movement", "hundreds" represents the hundreds of native large model applications, and is focused on screening and supporting large models with killer application potential, promoting their widespread application in all walks of life, and resolving practical problems. "Thousands," refers to connecting thousands of universities through secure high-speed networks to enable resource sharing, technology exchange, and talent training. "Tens of thousands" refers to promoting digitalization among enterprises and communities across tens of thousands of buildings, and also using existing optical fiber resources to match the power of AI to enterprise needs, and ultimately, promoting the inclusiveness, innovation and application of computing power services.

Overall, the goal of Ultra Cross Connects's "Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Movement" is to unite local governments, development zones, and industrial parks by connecting thousands of universities and tens of thousands of buildings through hundreds of large-model native applications.

Think Tank: The UCC Technical Committee Coheres Social Potential

In adherence to the Internet's spirit of openness, equality, collaboration, and sharing, as well as to the core ideas of the IETF, the UCC Technical Committee Preparatory Meeting was held behind closed doors during the second half of this event. Taking part in this closed-door session were IDC experts and cloud computing technology backbone representatives from Neolink, as well as representatives from upstream and downstream industries in the AI field, including large model companies represented by Baidu, GPU chip companies represented by Huawei, Moore Threads, and Enflame, and industry experts and executives from network chip companies represented by Zenosic and Asterfusion.

The UCC Technical Committee (Preparatory) is an open organization that will serve to encourage and promote the development and innovation at UCC, as well as to form an open consensus mechanism. The UCC Technical Committee (Preparatory) will extensively solicit opinions and suggestions from global network experts and developers, and will actively prepare to release RFC documents. At present, more than ten RFC drafts have been written to cover various fields such as distributed computing networks, decentralized identity and distributed governance, network architecture and protocols, and collective high-speed communication for training scenarios.

"Computing power for every household" is not just an idea or a slogan. The Ultra Cross Connects's "Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Movement" will empower "tens of thousands" of buildings, and in doing so, stimulate more vitality in every walk of life. This is a practical attempt to make deep changes to the infrastructure layer, but it also represents a path towards the interconnection of everything, human-machine collaboration, prosperity, and fairness. This conference built consensus among all parties, help social potential cohere into action, and united government departments, enterprises, universities, research institutions, and all sectors of society in the effort to contribute to making China a strong computing power.