Analysis of the development and application of cloud computing technology between China and America

Author: Wu Shifu CIO
, Nasgrov, USA




This June, I had the honor to attend the "China Excellent CIO ten-year Summit" held in Sanya, China. As can be seen from the two-day meeting, cloud computing is a hot topic in the current domestic it field. I work in the United States, obviously not in the ranks of the Chinese CIO. But to see the domestic peers in it and professional level of enthusiasm for the development of China's it happy. Close-up of an article to join in the fun.





The purpose of this article is to provide a practical reference for domestic counterparts by comparing the application and implementation of cloud computing in China and the United States, but because I do not have enough knowledge of the development of domestic cloud computing, in the discussion will inevitably have errors, willing to invite domestic peers to forgive. My understanding of the development of the domestic cloud computing technology is mainly two sources: 1 this time to attend the CIO ten-year summit and other CIO conversations and listen to your high man at the meeting speech. 2) Some relevant information on the Internet. I am also one of the speakers at this summit. In retrospect, the participants should be asked to raise their hands in a simple and quick way to investigate how many CIOs have clouds or started thinking about clouds, and so on. This approach, although there are "not random" flaws, but the hundreds of CIOs in this room can give us a comparison of the data. Next time! The U.S. side of the situation and data from my experience in the work, experience and participation in various meetings, as well as a number of research institutions (such as Gartner) in the report. The discussion in this article is no longer one by one marked.





Why is cloud computing so hot?





In fact, the application of cloud computing is much older than the name of this technology. As early as 1996, the government agency I worked with had started to share a payroll and welfare system with other government agencies online. The online software (database) allows a large number of government agencies to directly access the payroll and welfare data of other government agencies. By today's standards, it's a typical "SaaS". At the time of 1996, Microsoft had not seen the prospect of Internet technology, and the two founders of Google were still studying at university, and Amazon was just about to sell books Online. But in a few years, by the turn of the century, when we were picking software, it was one of the metrics to "work on browsers". In the 2001, the small company that I owned, stopped buying all the servers and the phones and other hardware used by the company's office. We put the company's core software and databases on Amazon's system, and the company's phone is in the cloud. Although there is a "switchboard", the system is in a company's "cloud". Our respective desktop phones and mobile phones are all connected by that switchboard.





But there was no notion of "cloud computing" in our minds at that time. The term cloud appears to be popping up. From the "Brief History" above, the concept of cloud computing is not a new technology, a new product, but a "scientific name" for the application of a whispered development. Of course, today's cloud computing fundamentals and technology structures have been vastly different from those of the year before.





to be honest, when I heard about the concept of cloud computing at a conference in 2007, I didn't pay much attention to the idea that old technology was being refurbished, new bottles of old wine were being poured, and that companies were pouring "swelling agents". So what is the "return to the world" of cloud computing, and the IT sector to make "upside down"?





IT costs!




The cost of
it is an interesting motivator. People who study market and product development (D & R) know that under the conditions of market economy, competition among similar products is the driving force of product development. For example, HP products compete with Dell computers. Competition makes the products of two manufacturers from quality, appearance, price to after-sales service all make good, to win customers. Cloud computing as a technology of the emergence and application, but no other similar technology as competitors.





During the 2007 and 2008, the "Evil image" of economic development in the United States and other Western countries has been Nu Duan, and people are beginning to look for opportunities to reduce operating costs in every corner of the organization's operations. We know that with the development of it, the total cost of social operation is relatively reduced, but the cost of it is not because of its rapid development and down. For example, 10 years ago to spend 1000 dollars to buy a second generation of Dell pc, today, a second generation of PC prices still around 1000 U.S. dollars, but a lot of good performance. If sharing IT resources on the internet lowers it costs, and there have been precedents before, why not develop it in this direction? In this way, the concept of cloud computing is formally boarded the "elegance."





Cloud Computing can save on IT investments, which is most obvious in reducing TCO (overall costs). This is the main motivation for American companies and government agencies to clouds. As for other advantages, such as energy saving and so on, no one is too concerned. It's like a private car: rich people drive cars, people who don't have money take buses.





the technical benefits of cloud computing in terms of saving it money: From Dr, backup, to data center security, and weekday technical support, the problems that have bothered your CIO all come from the cloud's provider. SaaS, in particular, doesn't have to worry about system upgrades. These questions are more than I understand, not to repeat.





The United States it is predicted that if cloud computing continues to evolve, 10 years from the IT department will disappear. Each operation department has one or two people who know more about it. The main task of the IT directors at the first level of the CIO is to manage the accounts for each cloud. In short, cloud computing will change the structure of the entire IT department.





second, the development of cloud computing





I read an article titled "The current situation and prospect of cloud computing in China" from the Internet. The article was published in the January 30, 2011 issue of the China Computer Journal. If you are interested, you can read it. That article has a better description of the current situation and development of China's cloud computing. Unfortunately, the article lacks numbers to support the ideas in the text. For example, the article said, "China's cloud computing industry is still in the import and preparation stage, on the eve of large-scale outbreak." But because of the lack of data support, this sentence seems to be more sensational than scientific foresight.





What about the American side? According to a survey, 29% of U.S. government agencies already have specific plans to adopt cloud computing. At the same time, 61% are studying or starting to plan to use cloud computing. In the next few years, U.S. government agencies will be spending 23% of their total IT investments in cloud computing by 2016. On this set of data, we can not say that cloud computing in the United States "outbreak", not to say today is "the eve of the outbreak."





in the United States, as for IaaS and pass, Amazon is the veteran of cloud computing. Amazon has its cloud computing infrastructure all over the country. Earlier this year, it had a problem on the East Coast system, and the impact was great (I've ' reported it to my domestic peers '). But it also gives Amazon a chance to learn and improve. Now its customers can set up backup and Dr Systems across the region and across two of East and west coasts. At that time, the website of our city government also "down" for several days, the citizens complained. I'm under a lot of pressure. Now, that's not going to happen. Our website on the Amazon East Coast system is going to be a problem, and it can be replaced immediately by its backup system on the West Coast. The data on both sides and the Web page content are synchronized with each other. We're renting Amazon's IaaS, loading Linux, databases, and Web language. The monthly rent is only 100 dollars. Today, HP and Cisco, as well as many local and smaller companies, are starting to offer similar services.





for services like SaaS, Microsoft and Google are still two big rivals in e-mail and office apps. Microsoft launched this year "Office 365" and Google's "Google App" is currently the two major market-grabbing hegemony. Microsoft monthly "Rent", Google is the annual charge. In my humble opinion, Microsoft Office 365 is too expensive for Google. Microsoft will want to put in Office products that people already like and get used to, so keep their products even if they spend more. But at least this strategy doesn't work for me!





In addition, many companies that produce specific applications (EFP, file Flow management, etc.) have begun to move their products to the cloud. So if companies and government agencies that buy that kind of software today will have different options. I know there are many city governments in Illinois that have moved their ERP to the cloud over the past two or three years with the opportunity to update their systems. The Los Angeles Municipal Government of California (15,000 employees), the Orlando government (3,000 workers), and many other small and medium-sized local governments have adopted Google apps. The county government of the district I live in is taking the lead in preparing to bring all the state agencies in the country into the cloud (email and Office applications). In addition, I have also introduced, the United States federal Government all Ministerial agencies (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Commerce, etc.) site is already in the Cloud (Amazon).





My personal estimate is that the adoption of cloud computing will be quicker if the US and the global economy recovers slowly, or if it recovers less than 2008 years ago (What I call the ' New Economy ').





Three, simple case introduction





in order to make a footnote to the above, I am here to introduce my own research and adoption of cloud computing process. Due to the limited space, I can only pick four key steps to introduce.





First, we re-examine all databases, backups, and all applications, from the perspective of it, which can be clouds and those that can only be run locally. I am in charge of this city government, although the size is small, only 400 employees. However, the entire municipal government operation relies on various types of software systems, from ERP to "911" SOS system, a total of 35 kinds of large and small. From an IT perspective, it's not possible to move everything into the cloud. of which, IaaS, three; PaaS, nine items; saas,12. The remaining 11 items, either with the local telephone company or with the state or county system, have a "straight line" (phone line or T-1) that cannot be moved to the cloud.





The second step: discuss and check with the operations department, and identify and filter the systems that are not clouds for other reasons, from databases, backup and application software that can be clouds from it perspective. Several of our IT choices have been taken down by the operations department. For example, according to the relevant decree, the police database, the 17-year-old criminal files can not be clouds, even in the cloud storage (Cloud Storage) can not. Since then, the entire police database has had to remain in the "human world". After sifting through several times, the following clouds are left:





§ (IaaS) municipal government website (already in the cloud),





§ (PaaS) GIS, document process management system





§ (SaaS) "Conference room and equipment Reservation system", "email", "Email file system" (email archiving), Office application





because American local governments operate in much the same sense, my "feasibility list" may be very representative in the United States.





third, the process of costing and budgeting. I started thinking about moving the city's office apps and emails to the cloud by the end of 2009. Today, we have been using Microsoft's Office Professional 2003 for 8 years. Office on is in a hurry and office 2010 is two or three years old. E-mail, we've been using Exchange 2003. So many years, because I was too "greedy", has not updated the software. Our city government has about 350 desktops and over 30 notebooks. Delayed updates save a lot of money. But soon I had to face the problem of renewal. But using Google's Google App could save about 120,000 dollars in five years. This is only the direct purchase of funds. If you look at TCO, the amount you save is higher.





when I proposed cloud computing in 2009, many people in government organizations didn't quite understand it. With the economy deteriorating today, the word "save money" became the best weapon in my hand. The worse the economy, the more attractive cloud computing will be. That's what I mentioned earlier. Reducing IT costs is the driving force behind cloud computing technology.





Consider the question of operational efficiency (twist efficiencies). When using cloud computing technology, predicting and responding to possible changes is a very important step. I have emphasized in the previous article that the basic driving force for cloud computing is the cost of it. This is only from the perspective of ROI. But for today's CIO, the impact of new it on organizational efficiency seems more important. In the American organisational environment, CEOs and parliaments (government agencies) or boards (businesses) often ask what the long-term impact of adopting new technologies is. Spent money, bought a new computer, data processing is much faster, save time. This is only an improvement in operation. But its long-term impact is that the new system provides marketing personnel with market data analysis more timely. Sometimes, because the data needed for a few hours early, marketers can win a few more customers. That's why today's CIO has begun to evolve from managing technology to managing business processes. We have mentioned this issue at the summit in Sanya. No more talking.





I have the same problem when it comes to using cloud computing technology. For example, if you use Google's Google App, the management of our office files will change dramatically. Google Doc is part of Google's cloud computing technology and functions like office work software, including word processing, spreadsheets, demos, intranet sites (one for each user). And since Google's Android system already has a sizeable portion of the mobile market, including mobile phones and Tablet PCs, it makes it possible for many workers to work and be at any point in the day. In other words, the entire organization becomes very "mobile". The employee can edit the file on the mobile phone, then save it directly to the system, or share it with others instantly. In addition, each Google user can also use Google's "phone" (the United States free, international long-distance two cents/minute). In this way, the traditional mode of organizational operation will change, the internal and external boundaries of the organization is not. Such changes require us to redesign the sharing, process, storage, and archiving of Office files. This also involves the staff work time, the personal intranet management and so on.





I think, how to face, guide the changes brought by new technology, more challenging than the adoption of new technology! The key to CIO success or failure is this!





The four steps described here are standard clouds processes. Ignoring any one of these steps, the clouds process is going to go wrong. My case is just office process and email. If the company's core operating system (ERP, logistics system, etc.), we must be more careful when considering, even should carefully examine the cloud computing provider's technical level, the basic system design, operating background, integrity history and so on. Because as we all know, once we bring the system clouds between, and then back to the "human" will be more difficult. This is a known drawback of cloud computing.





Four, cloud computing technology development and adoption of problems





from the current development, cloud computing technology brings advantages and disadvantages have been very thorough analysis of various aspects. I'll just talk in two ways. The first is the problem of technology development and popularization. The main motivation for cloud computing is to lower it costs. Companies and government organizations in the United States spend money wisely, without a superpower. This is particularly true in the case of development and development, especially in today's economic slump.





China, from the report mentioned earlier, China's cloud computing industry is focused on technology development on the one hand, the cloud computing user market lack of estimates. The article mentions "a large number of vendors in the user's understanding of cloud computing is still low, the number of successful cases to enter the Chinese cloud computing market." Without the relevant market research, how can cloud technology providers know what price a potential customer is willing to clouds? Without such data, how can cloud computing technology providers develop their own development plans and investment quotas? Of course, if there is a government behind it, there is another argument. Government investment can not be counted on ROI. This is a case of concern that this is another example of a blind investment in "high-speed rail". In the process of market development, the government's too much money is actually the biggest problem of development. In other ways, the waste of investment comes from this.





the difference between China and America lies in the government's role in development. The U.S. government is a consumer of cloud computing technology, while the Chinese government is the investor and developer of cloud computing technology. As above, the government can operate without cost, which has no benign effect on the development of information technology. This is one of the reasons why many new technologies will not be produced in China. There are institutional issues behind this, not much to talk about here.





If we do not seize the moment, "China will lag behind the world in a new wave of technological development," the report said. The authors of the report do not describe how to estimate the "world level of development". From the United States, not everyone is busy clouds. As I mentioned before, cloud computing technology has no competition in itself, and competition is between different providers. Therefore, not clouds, does not mean that China is lagging behind. But from the cloud computing technology in the domestic development look, should be guided by the market is right, do not blindly investment, development. Whether it is the development or the adoption of the issue, we must not adopt the "new technology" as the reason for the adoption of new technologies. Be sure to see what changes the new technology can bring.





The second is the adoption of cloud computing technology some of the concerns of the regular. CEOs, CIOs, and other leaders are most concerned about data security issues in the face of cloud computing technology. The data security problem has two parts: Hacker attack (network security) and the attribution of the database. On the Internet security issue, the U.S. CEO and CIO have a consensus that the IT team of those cloud providers may have a higher level of technical quality than their IT team. It may be safer for them to be responsible for the database. Look at the problem of data attribution. Human nature is the "own things themselves". Especially the core operating data, how can you put it in someone else's pocket?! The situation in the United States is that because of the developed market economy, from the law to various systems, the implementation of the contract is very strict. In my own case, neither the Parliament nor the CEO seems to care much about the problem. As long as the contract is well done, there will be no problem. A related question is, what if the cloud provider suddenly goes bankrupt? The consensus on this issue is that larger providers are more insured. When I suggested the adoption of Google's system, the Parliament raised the issue. But before I could answer, it was said that if both Microsoft and Google were bankrupt, we were facing more than just our data problems. The others laughed and agreed.





on the above two issues, what about China? First, so many enterprises and government organizations, they have "reduce it costs" the driving force? Second, with respect to China's current social integrity, the bosses of various state-owned and private enterprises will be reassured to put their company operational data on other people's servers. If a cloud company suddenly declares bankruptcy, will the original contract still work in court?





's answer to both types of questions will determine the development of cloud computing in China.





IBM has teamed up with the Chinese government to build the world's largest cloud computing service center in China (Tianjin Langfang). I think that center in the hardware and software of the facility must be the world's top class. However, its clientele can only be domestic customers. If IBM is involved, in the original design of that center, the customer service object should include the company of other countries in the world. But two years ago, the powerful Chinese government sent the law-abiding Google away from China, causing tremors around the world. The move comes with a by-product: almost all Western companies are adding a contract when they plan to clouds: data must be stored in North America. Western companies are worried that if Microsoft, Google and Amazon store some of their data in China, data security is a problem if the "able to say no" Chinese government changes its attitude. Another concern for the West is that the Chinese government can force its data to be seen in China. By contrast, the U.S. government has no right to go to those cloud-computing providers to ask to see a company's data. In case of suspected crime or terrorist activities, it is necessary to have court documents. This is still not in China. These two types of concerns make it possible for the centre to have no clients from other countries. Will the bosses of private enterprises in China have similar concerns?





no matter in what field, as long as is to share, there will be the question of integrity. The sincerity between the members of the Society, the trust between the social authority and the society is a problem to be considered.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)