UNCTAD: "Cloud economy" presents great opportunities for developing countries

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released the 2013 Information Economy Report in Geneva on 3rd, for the first time to focus on "cloud computing" in the field of http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/14054.html "> Information Technology" and its " The impact of the cloud economy on developing countries. The report argues that this new economic philosophy and practice presents great opportunities for developing countries and that developing countries should be aware of the urgency of this task.

First, we need to clarify a few basic concepts. The concept of "cloud", with the rapid development of communication technology, mainly refers to large-scale data and service centers, "cloud computing" refers to the large-scale data sharing and exchange in the center, "cloud computing" applied to the economic field, the formation of "cloud economy." The main feature is that through the Internet to provide users with cloud services to achieve data sharing and exchange. The Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Kitui, said: "Cloud computing, which is the focus of this year's report, is a newly emerging unique landscape in the evolving field of information and communication technology." Some predict that in the next 20 years, cloud computing technology will become the most significant revolutionary technology. Simply put, it allows users to operate remotely as needed, and many businesses, governments and organizations are already using various forms of cloud services at different levels of development. ”

Cloud computing has brought rapid growth in data traffic. Today's CPU, for example, is 4,000 times times faster than it was 40 years ago, and broadband is 36,000 times times faster than the dial-up Internet used in 1993. In 2012, Google processed an average of 2 million search requests per minute, and Facebook users sent about 700,000 messages, and Twitter sent out 100,000 messages. "Cloud computing" has brought about a significant increase in computing power, data storage capabilities and exchange capabilities, which has brought great potential and benefits to the "cloud economy". For example, the cost of equipment is significantly reduced, storage and processing capabilities are enhanced, access to data and services has greater flexibility and mobility. In recent years, the "cloud economy" has been developed rapidly in developed countries. Kitui Secretary General said: "So far, the application of cloud computing is mainly in developed countries, 2012, cloud-related data flow of 60% are from Europe and North America, the Middle East and Africa plus only 5%." It is clear that developing countries still face many obstacles in promoting the application of cloud computing, the most important of which is the infrastructure. While major developing countries have increased their investment in this area, the gap between broadband (and developed countries) is widening. ”

The report notes that while the "cloud economy" is growing rapidly, it is still limited in size. Revenue from cloud services is expected to reach 43 billion to 94 billion dollars by 2015, but this amount is still small compared to global information and communication technologies. In 2011, Global telecom revenues were about $4 trillion trillion. The report notes that the growth of "cloud services" will be concentrated in developing countries in the coming years. To this end, the report presents a series of recommendations to developing countries, including encouraging companies and institutions to use cloud services, strengthening related infrastructure and translating potential cloud economic potential into tangible economic benefits. Kitui said: "To promote the development of the cloud economy, many (developing) Governments need to take further measures to establish more reliable and practical cloud services, including broadband, power, data centers, efficient communication facilities, in addition, the enactment of relevant legislation is also very important." ”

The report notes that while there are many concerns about the risks of "cloud computing", such as data security, privacy issues, and so on, what more needs to be considered is how to benefit from the ever-changing information technology.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)