Strengthening Taiwan's Cyber Resilience on the Land, Under the Sea, and in the Air

CONTRIBUTING TEAM：Bo-Yi Lee

In the era of high degree of digitization, the network has become an important artery for the operation of a nation and its industrial development. Taiwan, being an island country, is highly depending on submarine cables for international network connections. If the submarine cables were damaged, the impact on the whole society would be huge. How to improve the availability and to maintain the resilience of communication network at any point in time is an important topic of discussion for the Taiwan government. NCHC, being responsible for ensuring the stability and security of the domestic academic and research network infrastructure, has strengthened and improved the country's cyber resilience by implementing the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Programs of "Strengthening Public Sector Network Services and Computing Infrastructure" and "Construction of Submarine Cables and 5G Cloud Networking Center". 
 

To enhance the country's cyber resilience, NCHC has established and managed the Formosa Open Internet Exchange (FOX), which is the first internet exchange point operated by a non-profit organization in Taiwan to promote the inclusion of the four public network sectors: Government Service Network (GSN), the Taiwan Academic Network (TANet), TaiWan Advanced Research and Education Network (TWAREN), and the Academia Sinica Research Network (ASNet) to enhance the exchange efficiency among these networks. Additionally, NCHC has also built an optical fiber network from Nangang to Shalun, that interconnects the primary nodes of academic and research networks with the three major science parks. With this infrastructure in place, the communication framework around the country is further enhanced.

Formosa Open Exchange site

A high-availability service architecture is implemented in the FOX, with three geographically separated centers supporting each other. The primary node is located in Tainan while the two redundant nodes are located in Hsinchu and Taichung. These three sites are connected via TANet and has significantly enhanced the domestic cross-network transmission efficiency. The goal is to further enhance the network application in public sector, to extend the connectivity to internet operators, and to diminish the network exchange costs. Thus, to provide a healthy network environment.
 

In addition to the FOX, NCHC is also implementing another Forward-looking Infrastructure Development project, "Submarine Cable and 5G Cloud Networking Center Construction", which has two major priorities: the deployment of optical fiber backbone networks and the construction of a new Internet Data Center. For more than 20 years, NCHC has planned and operated the research networks without possessing its own fiber optic infrastructure. In order to enhance the freedom of transmission bandwidth and interconnection mechanisms within Taiwan's public sector, the plan advocates for the establishment of a national optical fiber network, deploying cables along both bounds of Taiwan's high-speed railway tracks, extending from north to south, and branching to multiple important nodes. Besides catering to the requirements of academic research and experimental networks, the network is designed to meet the scientific research needs in Taiwan. Moreover, it will serve government and public sectors for their substantial data transmission needs, including police and fire protection, land disaster prevention, and other critical functions.

NCHC IDC is expected to be completed and operational in 2025

NCHC Internet Data Center (IDC) is another pivotal project of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program. With the goal of positioning Taiwan as a switching hub of the Asia-Pacific network, it is imperative to the digital infrastructure, which includes completing the optical fiber network and expanding the capacity of Internet Data Centers throughout Taiwan. This IDC located in the Tainan Science Park is currently under construction with a target of providing 800 racks. The main objective is to address the requirements arising from Taiwan's digital transformation, the evolution towards a service-oriented digital government, the expansive realm of cloud computing, information transmission demands, and the escalating need for data storage in the era of artificial intelligence.

Beyond achieving a comprehensive network with submarine and land cables, the Taiwan government is actively engaged in deploying a satellite network as a key component of its development strategy. To mitigate the risk of submarine cable disruption, collaboration with various global telecommunications providers is ongoing, aiming to diversify and enrich the connection mechanisms between Taiwan and the international networks. The plan is to have satellite signals covering the entire Taiwan by the end of 2023.


NCHC IDC held a groundbreaking ceremony (from left to right) Chau-Lyan Chang, Director General of NCHC, President Faa-Jeng Lin of the NARLabs, and Mayor Wei-Cher Huang jointly broke the ground.

NCHC fiber optical infrastructure will play a crucial role in facilitating connections and experiments, either involving low-orbit satellite terminal equipment sites or verifying connections between the base station and land chains. This integration, alongside with existing submarine cable and land communication, will form a tripartite network connection encompassing land, sea, and air. Consequently, Taiwan's cyber resilience is poised for substantial improvement, and thus establishing a distinctive advantage in the digital age.