Compute-communication convergence: network as a computer

Network as a Distributed Computer

The 6G vision of compute-communication convergence treats the entire network infrastructure as a unified distributed computing platform. Instead of separate communication pipes and cloud computing resources, every network node — from base stations to edge servers to core functions — provides both connectivity and compute. Applications submit computational tasks that the network dynamically distributes across available resources based on latency, bandwidth, and compute capacity constraints. This enables in-network computing where data processing occurs at optimal points during transit,…