The Coming of The Cloud

By+Tang+Yuankai

In China cloud computing technology is becoming a larger and larger part of peoples lives， often without the knowledge of their users.

Cloud computing enables people to access systems using a Web browser regardless of their location or the devices they use. Meanwhile， those selling cloud computing services have physical servers that host products and services from a remote location， so that end-users dont have to store it on their own devices. The three major models of cloud computing service are known as software as a service， platform as a service， and infrastructure as a service.

The term “moving to the cloud” refers to an organization moving away from the traditional model of purchasing dedicated hardware to the new model of using a shared cloud infrastructure and paying as one uses it. As cloud computing services become more affordable than ever as well as diversified to accommodate both big name corporations and small businesses alike， many companies are jumping on the new trend.

Observers believe there will be a groundbreaking growth of cloud computing in China throughout 2014. In the past， multinational and Chinese cloud computing companies focused on building private clouds， which served individual corporate clients. However， several global public cloud providers will complete their infrastructure in China by the end of 2014 and make resources， such as applications and storage， available to the general public over the Internet.

“It is estimated that Chinas public cloud market could be worth 6.28 billion yuan （$1 billion） in 2014，” said Liu Duo， Vice President of the China Academy of Telecommunication Research， at the 2014 Cloudcomputing Forum in Beijing in March. According to Liu， the market value in 2013 was 4.76 billion yuan （$768 million）.

Government incentives

“Government organizations should take the lead in using cloud services as well as promoting assessment and accreditation to boost other clients confidence，” said Xie Yuqi， a senior official with the Department of Telecom Development of Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology （MIIT）， at the forum.

The MIIT， the Ministry of Finance， the Government Offices Administration of the State Council and the Central Government Procurement Center of China reportedly have worked together to include cloud computing services into the government procurement inventory by formulating standards， procurement guides and contract templates.endprint

From March 4 to 6， Cloud China 2014， an exhibition and forum organized by the Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation under the MIIT， was held in Beijing to promote cloud computing applications， optimizing the environment for information consumption and pushing forward the building of smart cities.

At the event， Zhou Zixue， chief economist with the MIIT， said that cloud computing would be put into better use in key areas， establishing a complete industrial chain and developing into an industry with safety guarantees and innovations in services， technologies and management by 2015.

The standardization of cloud computing has taken off under the guidance of the MIIT. Chen Wei， a senior official with the MIIT， said that an open attitude will be adopted during standardization. “Chinese companies will also actively take part in the drafting of international standards on cloud computing so as to raise our discourse rights in international arena，” Chen said.

Global cloud computing giants， including Microsoft， IBM， Google and Amazon， as well as Chinese IT companies， including Alibaba Group， Shanda and Huawei， have all started to build infrastructure in China.

Last July， IBM announced its engagement with Capitalonline Data Service （CDS）， a Chinese Internet data center service provider， to develop a robust infrastructure for delivering enhanced cloud solutions. As part of this multi-million-dollar engagement， IBM will build and manage CDSpublic cloud service based on IBM SmartCloud technology.

Amazon also announced the expansion of its public cloud business， Amazon Web Services（AWS）， into China at the end of last year by launching a new region in Beijing that will serve Chinese customers. Before the deployment， AWS ran IT equipment that enabled cloud services in nine regions.

Microsofts Windows Azure Media Services were selected to provide live streaming of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi， Russia. As a result， all 98 events， which consisted of more than 1，000 hours of content， became available across an array of devices and platforms， including iOS， Android， as well as Windows Phone， Windows 8 and Windows RT， which also benefited Chinese audiences.

Windows Azure supports a range of opensource development tools.

Ni Guangnan， an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering， said that Chinese companies dont have enough developers of open-source software due to a critical shortage of qualified developers. “For a long time， China trained IT engineers mainly based on Windows platforms， resulting in an oversupply of engineers familiar with Windows， while there is an acute shortage of developers familiar with open-source software，” Ni said.endprint

To change this situation， the Leadership of Open-source University Promotion Alliance， which was established by more than 70 universities in 2005， launched a program last May to improve vocational education and employment prospects for future open-source engineers. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security， the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Ni， who was the former chief engineer at Lenovo Group， the largest PC maker in the world， spoke highly of the program. “This educational transformation is consistent with the international development trends of the IT industry.”

Robust momentum

Wang Jian， chief technology officer of Alibaba Group， Chinas largest e-commerce firm， said that cloud computing provides the best opportunity for traditional manufacturing companies to embrace the Internet era.

On March 17， Alibaba signed a cooperative agreement with Midea Group， one of Chinas largest household appliance manufacturers. Based on the agreement， the two companies will build a platform for the Internet of Things based on the Alibaba Cloud Computing platform （www.aliyun.com）， which will make remote control of household appliances possible.

“We can use cloud computing and big data to create an edge for Midea by moving the companys sales， account management， supply chain， enterprise resource plan and after-sale service toward an Internet platform，” Wang said.

Many household appliance giants are seeking similar deals.

Alibabas cloud computing ambitions are not limited to the household appliance business. On March 20， Aliyun signed a contract with Beijing-based Newauto Co. to build one of Chinas largest cloud computing-based media platforms， which can transform a traditional TV station into an Internet-based media outlet， whose programs can be played at websites and on cellphone apps， within a week. Meanwhile， the transformation will enable the TV station to collect and utilize massive amount of client data. It is estimated that around 200 TV stations will use this platform by the end of this year.

In the safety service center of Wansent China， a firefighting service company based in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area （BDA） in the capital citys southeastern suburb of Daxing District， whenever a fire alarm sounds， an alarm sign immediately pops out on the computer screen and the location of the fire is accurately identified on a large monitoring screen at the same time.endprint

The company is one of a few companies in China devoted to the development of such a firefighting system， which comprises of detectors， alarm controllers and a remote monitoring center. They utilize cloud computing in its production safety area.

By the end of 2013， the total investment in cloud computing projects in BDA reached 20 billion yuan （$3.22 billion）， which made the area Chinas leading industrial base for the technology.

The China Cloud Industrial Park， which was launched by BDA in September 2011， plans to eventually attract total investments of more than 50 billion yuan （$8.07 billion）， generate annual revenue of more than 200 billion yuan （$32.2 billion） and provide more than 50，000 jobs.

In December 2013， Beijing was authorized by the MIIT to register startups using industrial cloud solutions. Under this pilot program， small businesses can focus on their core activities and leave other supporting functions to thirdparty suppliers by relying on cloud computing technologies.

Meanwhile， China Telecom， one of Chinas three major telecom service providers， is expanding its cloud computing infrastructure by building data centers all over the country. Helin County in north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is a base for such expansions and has a designed hosting capacity of 2 million servers， which will make it the largest of its kind in Asia.

“We will provide a whole-package cloud computing solutions for governments and enterprises alike in a dozen of sectors， including education， healthcare， finance and tourism，”said Wang Feng， President of China Telecoms cloud computing branch.endprint