1. Who are you, and where are you from? How did you get involved with the Internet?

My name is Jianping Wu. Looking back, my whole study and work life are actually closely "tied" to the Internet. I have experienced many challenges in the process of building the Internet in China, and I have also gained a lot from tackling one problem after another. It has been my great fortune to witness the development of the Internet in China from scratch.

My story with the Internet goes back to my graduate studies, where I worked on the basic elements of computer networks for my master's thesis at Tsinghua University from 1979 to 1981. After graduation, I stayed at Tsinghua University to teach and then studied at UBC in Canada in the late 80s, where my research was all about Internet research.

2. Where do you work and what are you currently doing?

I am a professor at Tsinghua University, the Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and for many years the director of CERNET, China Education and Research Network.

3. What challenges do you face in your work? How do you cope with them?

I am mainly engaged in two areas of work, one is Internet research and teaching, and the other is the work of CERNET, which constantly supports my research and teaching progress, and the two complement each other.

In 1994, we built CERNET, China’s first national Internet, which nurtured the first Internet users in China. The year 2004 saw the completion of CERNET2, the world's first pure IPv6 backbone network, and in 2021, the world's largest test infrastructure for the future Internet, FITI (CERNET3). These three networks have undertaken different historical missions. Their evolutionary process coincides with the development history of the Internet and complements our research and practice of the Internet in various periods.

The current Internet architecture faces various challenges, among which scalability, security, and real-time access are the three main challenges. Based on the experimental environment provided by CERNET, we conduct basic research on Internet core technologies and Internet architecture, focusing on these three major issues.

First, scalability. I think the smooth transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is particularly important. Relying on the pure IPv6 backbone network of CERNET2, our team researched and practiced IPv4 and IPv6 transition technologies, successively examined tunneling transition technology and translation technology, and finally transferred the original IPv4 users to IPv6 through translation technology, in the way the transition is completed without users realizing it. Thus, we basically provided the solution for Internet interoperability between IPv4 and IPv6.

Current data shows that the number of IPv6 users in Chinese universities exceeds 10 million, and the support rate of universities for IPv6 is 63.9%; the number of active users is nearly 8 million. Nationwide, the number of active IPv6 users reached 742.4 million, accounting for 70% of the total number of Chinese Internet users. Just in March this year, IPv6 traffic on ChinaMobileLtd.’s network accounted for more than 50%, meaning that IPv6 traffic on the mobile network exceeded IPv4 traffic, which is a historic breakthrough.

Second, security challenges. The grim outlook of the global cyber security situation makes it a tricky problem to implement cyber security globally. Our research on cyber security starts from the interconnection architecture, and based on CERNET2, we propose the next-generation Internet true source address verification architecture SAVA, which supports the accurate positioning and address traceability of Source Address, ensuring a safe and trustworthy next-generation Internet architecture. This technology is currently deployed on a scale in networks such as the CERNET2 backbone.

In addition, we believe that routing system security is the top priority of cyber security. In 2022, we initiated the establishment of the SAVNET (Source Address Validation within and between Internet Autonomous Domains) working group at the IETF, which is the first standardized working group led by Chinese researchers in the field of routing at the IETF, marking an important step to crack the cyber security problem from the bottom.

Third, real-time access. Network real-time assurance is very crucial for critical industries and sectors such as industrial control, virtual reality, vehicle networking, telemedicine, etc. and we are also exploring this area.

CERNET, CERNET2, and CERNET3 are the three big networks that support our research and practice on the Internet, and from a historical perspective, they also represent the yesterday, today, and tomorrow of China’s Internet respectively. We hope to have more exploration of CERNET3 in the future.

4. What is your history with APAN? How long have you been associated with APAN? What specific activities and work have you been involved in?

At the beginning of APAN's establishment, I have been involved in various activities of APAN. In 1999, I led CERNET to join APAN officially. From 1999 to 2005, I served as the APAN Board Vice Chair. From 2007 to 2011, I held the post of APAN Board Chair.

I attach great importance to CERNET's support for APAN. The CERNET team has been actively working hard in the APAN community under my leadership for many years, serving in multiple working groups and committees, as well as APAN Board Directors. The current APAN Board Chair, Prof. Jilong Wang is from both Tsinghua University and CERNET team. This is a witness of our commitment to promoting the international collaboration of the Internet in China, actively participating in and pushing forward the development and cooperation of APAN.

At the same time, we also collaborated with CERNET relevant universities to hold 5 APAN meetings in China, including the APAN10 Beijing Meeting in 2000, APAN14 Shanghai Meeting in 2002, APAN24 Xi'an Meeting in 2007, APAN44 Dalian Meeting in 2017, and APAN54 Jinan Meeting in 2022.

5. Please share one or two interesting experiences you had with the APAN community.

During my years working at APAN, I have had two memorable experiences.

The first experience was that Kilnam Chon, the then APAN Board Chair, promoted the organization of the APAN Retreat team to analysis APAN's historical review and future development plans. I was selected as the APAN Retreat Chair. The work was so meaningful that with the support and efforts of the team, APAN Ltd. was born and registered in Hong Kong, becoming a turning point in the development process of APAN.

The second experience was as a representative of CERNET and APAN, jointly launching the Global NREN CEO Forum with the National Education and Research Networks (NREN) such as Internet2 in the United States, GEANT in Europe, etc.. The typical NREN representatives from various countries get together to share their own challenges regularly and promoted international collaboration, contributing wisdom to the development of global education and research networks.

6. What value does APAN bring to you personally and to your work?

During my tenure as APAN Board Vice Chair and APAN Board Chair, I gained a deeper understanding of APAN and became more aware that technology and applications are equally important in the development of the Internet. The healthy and orderly development of the Internet cannot be separated from international collaboration.

At APAN, I made lots of friends, who helped each other, enhanced friendships and promoted cooperation. I believe that the Internet itself is a highly practical and applied discipline, and only by closely combining it with the actual needs of social development can it maximize its vitality. And APAN precisely meets this expectation. It is not just a simple basic network technology organization, but also attaches great importance to the support of the Internet for various disciplines, such as remote medicine, environment, agriculture, disasters, and open science. It has attracted the participation of interdisciplinary researchers and provided diverse perspectives. It is also very valuable for researchers from the Internet field and other disciplines.

The cultivation of young people is signification in the development of the Internet. APAN is a very important organization, and I encourage the CERNET team and young people to actively participate in APAN's organizational management and academic activities. Meanwhile, we continue to encourage support and cultivation for the next generation of young people in APAN activities. Prof. Xing Li from the CERNET team has served as APAN Engineering Workshop Chair for many years, encouraging young people to study Internet knowledge and submit papers to APAN meetings. In CERNET and APAN, young people gradually take on important responsibilities, which is a manifestation of the value of our work.

7. How do you think APAN should be improved and enhanced?

26 years ago, the founders of APAN realized that the era of the Internet was coming, and they worked together to create APAN, pioneering the collaborative development of the Internet in the Asia Pacific region. In the current complex international environment, APAN is facing new missions and challenges.

I believe that APAN can be improved and enhanced from both internal and external perspectives.

From the perspective of APAN, there are many countries and regions in the Asia Pacific where the Internet is still steadily developing. We should adhere to the spirit of "openness, equality, cooperation, and sharing" of the Internet to enable more people to connect to the Internet and benefit from it; At the same time, APAN should also learn from the operational experience of institutions such as Internet2 in the United States and GEANT in the European Union, strengthen internal operations, and better promote the development and prosperity of the Internet in the Asia Pacific region.

From an external perspective, the current international situation is very complex, and the open global internet is facing challenges. APAN should further strengthen communication and collaboration with global education and research network institutions, and carry out cooperation and exchange to promote global internet technology and applications.

8. What do you like to do in your spare time, aside from work?

Actually, I'm not sure what I like, but the team I lead often says that I enjoy challenges and trying new things. I have found that this is indeed the case, and my curiosity about new things may be stronger than many young people. For instance, when most of my peers believe that I am too old to learn how to drive, I learned how to drive and pay great attention to safe driving. Even when I go abroad, I still learn how to drive with left and right rudders. I think new environments and skills are a challenge that will bring me greater interest and passion, which bring me a lot of fun.