What the High-tech concept of cloud computing means for IBM and its fellow travellers

What does it mean for IBM and its "fellow travellers" when the High-tech concept of "cloud computing" is linked to the black pigs that grow in the mountains, or the moving base stations between the mountains, or the freight cars that Mercedes-Benz on the freeway?

Now that "cloud computing" seems to be no longer the prerogative of office white-collar workers, in other words, when the IT consumer thing is really coming, what does cloud computing actually change?

August 28, "IBM Southwest Excellence Cloud Computing Center" settled in China's first county, Sichuan Meishan Renshou. The goal of the project is to achieve output value of 100 million yuan a year, three years of industrial output value of 600 million-800 million yuan. It is expected that by the end of 2014, the project around the landing of various software companies will reach 15-20.

The company signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement with the National cloud computing services provider, the Capital Online Technology Co., Inc. (hereinafter "the Capital Online"), according to a July 30 IBM China official microblog. This is considered to be the symbol of the IBM public cloud landing in China. This is not the first time IBM has "built a cloud computing platform" in China as a multinational company, but unlike in the past, "cloud computing" has begun to inject a landing, operational and profitable business into the data center.

Prior to that, another multinational software giant Microsoft and the domestic transport business century interconnection reached cooperation, Microsoft Windows Azure officially landed, the first to provide public cloud services in China. In the "Public cloud" market, Amazon is the current front-runner. The company's public cloud services last year revenue of 2 billion U.S. dollars, and next year is expected to increase to 5 billion U.S. dollars, Amazon is said to be in the Chinese market to accelerate the layout. China's public cloud market "fighting imminent".

The new job of "cloud"

In the past one months, Liaoyuan, located in the northeast, ushered in 15 companies to establish a wholly owned subsidiary, based on the local "cloud platform" to build and operate the intelligent city of various applications.

The city's mayor, Jin Yuhui, had no idea that the old industrial base he was in charge of would become the first batch of "cloud computing" beneficiaries. Through the cloud platform, the city is big to e-government, small to food safety, there are information platforms. All schools and large and medium-sized restaurants have food supervision. Once resource-exhausted cities, the east three provinces and Inner Mongolia cross-industry cloud computing services core.

Liaoyuan's story began two years ago, when the old industrial base was developing new industries. Like many of the city's managers, Jin Yuhui hopes to improve the management of the city through IBM's information technology.

At that time, IBM was stepping into China's cloud computing market, the main business of the IBM Greater China Software group's cloud computing and mobile Internet division is to provide software and technical services to the telecom operators ' cloud centers, a business that is still in full swing, with a lot of bids every week and every month, because of the brand effect of IBM, By the end of 2011, there were more than 10 provincial-level mobile cloud centers using IBM products.

But the reality is, every time asked to build a "cloud" to do? Customers are just moving the original business to the cloud, the most saying is "the leader says everyone is doing cloud, so we have to get on cloud project." "Many data centers are cluttered with machines, where servers are virtualized and chained up without business."

What is the cloud? What kind of mission should it carry? There are also heated discussions within IBM.

Data show that at the end of 2011 and 2012, most of the 49 cloud computing bases under construction or planned in mainland China were idle. The excessive consumption of cloud computing is far from bringing changes to people's productive lives. How to carry out the effective release value, becomes the question which urgently needs to solve at present stage. "Because the overall transformation of IBM in China, the whole system has not completely turned around, we are still trying to process." "said an IBM executive.

IBM's model in the 2007 was "private Cloud", a platform for single users to provide computing services via the Internet. Liang Zhihui, director of the IBM Software group's cloud computing and mobile interconnection project, said, "The cloud is valuable because it can bring about things that can't be done in a way that is not in the cloud, creating new business values and models." But how to find enterprises, customers, users, how to let everyone use, at the same time play economic benefits, this is a complex problem. ”

At the end of 2011, domestic server manufacturers, including Huawei, ZTE, the tide has been involved in the "cloud" of the tide, some of the value of more than 5 million of the project, Huawei, ZTE can not even money, or as long as 100,000 yuan jump prices, and waiting to sell very basic infrastructure to the telecom back. Because of the detailed financial accounting system, IBM can not do such a loss trading. The business model that made money yesterday is being replaced by new technologies and new business models.

"Our understanding of the Chinese economy is too superficial, and the understanding of the local economy is too superficial to think that sitting in the office, sitting in a café with Internet information, can jiangshan." Giushaokang, the head of IBM's cloud computing solution, said, "This is the end of the story and we have to find a new job." ”

Flexible business model

IBM, who was defeated in the brutal bidding, began to look for new directions. Cloud Computing Solutions team members are moving out of their offices to visit local government departments and industry customers in places where they think they might have a desire for cloud computing. "If only in the original business model, to do the integration of resources, saving and efficiency of the promotion, is not the meaning of the cloud." "But for the cloud, business is more important, that's the purpose," said Mao, chief technology officer and director of Innovation Engineering at IBM China Development Center. ”

Foreign investment into China's cloud computing market, there is a threshold that can not be bypassed. The cloud computing business must be carried out through the participation of Chinese companies, and only as a provider of technology, equipment and business models.

March 2012, IBM and the Liaoyuan government contracted and domestic service outsourcing supplier soft power cooperation to build the Northeast's first "cloud Center." Liaoyuan became the first real "cloud sample".

In this mode of cooperation, IBM is the provider of all hardware and software devices and business models, providing databases and soft power as IBM partners, both relying on IBM's cloud platform to deploy other enterprise applications. Soft power can also integrate the resource platform to provide its own applications. After incorporating the soft power, IBM's new cloud business model starts.

April 2012, Gansu Mobile tried to transform. At that time, Gansu Mobile has nearly 20 million people in Lanzhou and 100,000 group customers, including small and medium-sized enterprises. August, IBM and Gansu Mobile reached cooperation.

October, Gansu moved the first application of "field access" on-line. The application will use the mobile phone positioning mode completely, the operation of the field base station into the system, the basic can eliminate the maintenance personnel not on the scene of the "absence of operation" phenomenon. Soon this application also brought customers to Gansu Mobile-Lanzhou Railway Bureau to complete the Railway inspection, patrol staff as long as in the railway, the system will automatically collect data confirmation patrol.

Operation "Cloud" business not only solves the problem that Gansu moves itself, also make money. Lu Zhihong, deputy general manager of China Mobile Gansu, said in an interview, "We use a variety of billing models, including group fees or in accordance with the number of users or resource consumption to collect." "Soon, more applications will be online, including Field Service, payroll, business, and retail." A street shop owner, download a terminal application to their mobile phone, each month to move more than 200 yuan, you can through the "cloud" to join the mobile terminal, notify the brewery or bakery replenishment.

On this platform, IBM is rewarded by the profit-sharing that is realized through the soft-drive operation. For the growing cloud computing business, IBM's profit model in China is still implemented through operational and business partitioning. The cloud business focuses not on the number of cases, but on the vitality of each case-whether it can achieve a virtuous cycle-making money on every aspect of the platform.

Competing for the public cloud

IBM's cloud revenue grew by 80% in 2012, and the company expects cloud revenues to reach $7 billion trillion by the end of 2015. In the process, IBM is trying to build a business closed loop, including mobile operators, Governments, third party companies, software developers, and so on, each of which can benefit. This is the "borrowing power" and "profit" behavior, driving a large gang of people follow IBM forward.

In mid-August 2013, Gansu Mobile began to recruit the second batch of applications online, there are many ISVs (independent software providers) want to put their applications on this platform by mobile to push, Gansu mobile through the tender to screen quality products, IBM and soft pass to do the judges. There are now more than 20 applications online, and some are in the evaluation. This model makes it a reality for the cloud to serve the land of Gansu (and even mainland China).

On the other hand, IBM made a significant adjustment to its hardware strategy in 2013. Allow IBM's full range of hardware products to support cloud computing to the fullest extent possible.

For now, such a business is not enough to compare with the rich rewards of hardware and software sales, but in the end, the new service system will be "completely turned around", based on the past mature business model, a new business model discussion, which involves the new software, hardware and IBM business model input, will bring an endless stream of revenue to IBM.

Nearly 80% of Chinese companies in 2014 will invest more in cloud computing, according to Gartner survey data. This May, IDC released forecasts, China's public cloud market size to 2016 will reach 24.67 billion yuan, the annual composite growth rate of 38.6%. China is emerging as a new engine for the global "cloud computing" market.

Most of the time, Wang Shengai, general manager of IBM Greater China's cloud computing division, is busy landing the cloud on the data center. Prior to this, IBM has been seeking qualified Chinese companies as partners to bring the world's leading enterprise-class public cloud services into China.

Choosing the capital online as a "public cloud" partner is the first time IBM has tried to launch a comprehensive strategic deployment in this area. The latter is in the domestic government, finance, entertainment, Internet and other industries market has high-quality customer and service experience, the two sides will jointly build public cloud platform.

IBM provides enterprise-class public cloud platform technology and operational experience, through the capital online for Chinese enterprises to upgrade and optimize the real needs, to provide a more available "public cloud" platform. The capital provides operation network online, but also to play the role of software developers, in the convening of applications to meet the needs of user customization.

Unlike another cloud computing firm that pioneered the Chinese market, IBM, in cooperation with domestic manufacturers, not only undertook the design, development and construction of the platform, but also fully participated in the management of the platform after its completion. The platform will be officially launched in early 2014 to provide services. Cuining, the capital's online CEO, said in an interview, "with IBM to build a cloud computing platform, to a large extent, the" cloud Real Estate "face project to find a new driving force, really solve the customer's urgent. ”