Visitors take photos in front of the gate of the Tsinghua University. China is setting up an interconnected network among universities this year. [Photo / China Daily]

BEIJING - As many as 1,000 universities in China will be interconnected in an experimental network of the country's next-generation Internet starting this year, industry experts said, as part of the country's effort to reach the forefront of global next-generation Internet development.

The experimental network, called CERNET2 (China Education and Research Network), connects universities and academic institutions. Part of the next-generation Internet, CERNET2, uses an addressing system called Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), which can provide a huge number of IP addresses for devices connected to the Internet.

"A large-scale test of the next-generation Internet has been a focal point in China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), even though many designs haven't come to realization yet," said Wu Jianping, director of the CERNET expert committee and a mastermind in the development of China's next-generation Internet, at a forum in Beijing on Thursday.

Wu said the plan for expanding CERNET2 is now waiting for government approval before being implemented.

Liu Dong, a member of the expert committee of CERNET, estimated that altogether, 1,000 universities will join the network - there are currently 100.

"It (the expansion plan) will definitely start this year, after going through approval procedures," Liu told China Daily.

Related readings: 4G network is another step closer to reality  Xunlei Network plans IPO  Huawei confirms bid for London subway cell-phone network  Hackers penetrated Nasdaq computer network

Their remarks came when the Internet worldwide is running out of some 4.3 billion IP addresses under the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addressing system, which will prevent more devices from connecting to the Internet. So it has become essential for countries to move onto the next-generation Internet and adopt IPv6, which will provide 340 undecillion - 340 followed by 36 zeros - IP addresses to support future Internet expansion.

China had only 278 million IPv4 addresses by the end of last year, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, which is too few compared with its 457 million Internet users, the most in the world.

In the years to come, China will need "far too many" IPv6 addresses, said Paul Wilson, director general of Asia Pacific Network Information Center, a not-for-profit organization responsible for allocating IP address in the region.

Wilson said this is because more and more devices will need an IP address to get Internet connectivity, boosted by the country's strategy of the Internet of Things and convergence of the networks of telecommunications, Internet, and cable television.

China has been engaged in developing its next-generation Internet and adopting the IPv6 system for more than a decade. The government is drawing up a guideline to develop the IPv6 featured next-generation Internet, according to officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.