Huawei OpenLab: An indispensable open cooperation platform for building an IT ecosystem

Normally, the labs we are talking about are labs for technology research and product development within our own companies. Today, the lab we are talking about is an open lab, a lab for partners and users - Huawei OpenLab, which is a platform for joint incubation and joint verification of "Huawei + Partner" solutions, enhancing product competitiveness, and improving customer value and satisfaction. Its purpose is to build a healthy and strong ecosystem with partners, give full play to their respective advantages, and ultimately deliver competitive solutions to customers.

So why did Huawei establish an external laboratory like OpenLab? Liu Chao, vice president of Huawei Enterprise BG China, said in an interview with reporters that Huawei is an ICT infrastructure supplier. In addition to operators, we do not provide software applications for any industry. We only provide a platform. There are thousands of industry applications, and each industry has a large number of personalized needs. Customers in the same industry also have many personalized needs. In order to meet the needs of end users and enable users to play an effective role on Huawei's ICT infrastructure, helping customers improve efficiency and reduce costs, Huawei established OpenLab.

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"In the exhibition hall of Huawei China Ecosystem Partner Conference 2017, Huawei has specially set up an Ecosystem Power Exhibition Area, and OpenLab is the first booth in this exhibition area. We hope that partners can not only enjoy the resources of OpenLab, but also hope that partners, customers and Huawei can face the pressure of the future together and enable the back-end R&D organization to make product plans on demand." Liu Chao said.

At present, Huawei has a total of several first-level OpenLabs in operation around the world, located in Suzhou, Munich, Singapore, Moscow and other places. These OpenLabs have carried out extensive cooperation with partners at different levels in the fields of smart cities, finance, transportation, energy and electricity, manufacturing, etc. Moreover, each OpenLab is built according to local market needs and talent and technical advantages. For example, in Munich, Germany, Huawei and German automobile manufacturers carry out joint innovation and simulation testing and conduct research in the field of Internet of Vehicles; in Singapore, a safe and smart city, a public safety innovation center has been built. In short, Huawei focuses on cooperating with excellent local companies, integrating their capabilities into Huawei's global value chain and promoting them globally, and enhancing the competitiveness of the local ICT industry.

Partners talk about OpenLab: It is an indispensable platform for my country's IT ecosystem construction

How do partners view Huawei OpenLab, an open cooperation platform built for ecosystem partners?

Zhu Jianming, General Manager of Huawei Business Unit of Yusys Technologies, said when talking about the cooperation with Huawei: "In the financial industry, Yusys is a very typical ISV in the financial industry. From a business perspective, Huawei's R&D is deeply aligned with our application solutions, and we complement each other's strengths to form a close ecological cooperation relationship. On the one hand, Huawei provides products and R&D capabilities, and we provide Huawei with our understanding of the industry and the demand for ICT technologies such as cloud and virtualization, and ultimately develop solutions that meet the needs of the industry. On the other hand, we put the results of our joint innovation in OpenLab for users around the world to visit and learn about. This can also bring projects to ISVs, which is a typical process of mutual promotion."

Zhu Jianming has a deep feeling after long-term cooperation. He said: "Huawei's product line is very long, which is Huawei's advantage. The long and complete product line can help us partners reduce the management and technical difficulties caused by multiple product suppliers. Although each product may not be the best, we prefer comprehensive excellence. The so-called comprehensive excellence means how to integrate technology and products so that the solutions and application systems we deliver can reflect the effect of comprehensive excellence."

Xiao Yi, executive deputy general manager of Taiji Smart City and Cloud Service Strategic Business Division, said that many foreign companies, including Google, are now building platforms similar to Huawei OpenLab. Why? The reason is that the continuous iteration and update of technology is extremely complex, and customer demands are constantly changing. These two challenges are difficult for a single company to cope with. The future technology platform or ecosystem should be aggregated, and it should be able to continuously absorb and digest new technologies and new products, and constantly adapt to new market demands to create new value for users. Huawei OpenLab is such a platform.

"The cooperation between Taiji and Huawei has lasted for 16 years. Huawei attaches great importance to the technology and R&D in the design and construction of ICT infrastructure, while Taiji has obvious advantages in long-term optimization and extension of construction results, and the two sides complement each other. While using Huawei's products to solve user problems, Taiji is also discussing with Huawei to integrate, iterate and improve Taiji application solutions and Huawei's IT products again to provide users with a better experience. The integration of Huawei and its partners is not just a simple use and integration, but a process of mutual promotion and improvement." Xiao Yi said, "Openlab should be an indispensable platform for my country's IT ecosystem. It is not just Huawei's business, but should be a common cause of Huawei and all our partners."

Standing backstage and watching tomorrow

Talking about the work focus of OpenLab in China in 2017, Liu Chao told reporters: "To make the entire IT ecosystem more dynamic, Huawei must fully understand and meet customer needs. In 2017, in the direction of OpenLab, we will continue to focus on five industries, including government, finance, and manufacturing, to gain insight into industry trends, conduct comprehensive and in-depth demand surveys in these industries, and ultimately determine the investment direction of our product research and development based on unmet needs. Huawei has a saying that we should look at tomorrow from behind the scenes, and OpenLab is a window for us to see the future. We will work with partners to leverage our respective strengths and innovate together, so that customers can realize value through the power of the ecosystem, while allowing us and our partners to gain more value."

15 new OpenLabs to be built in the next three years

Recently, at CeBIT 2017 held in Hanover, Germany, Huawei released its OpenLab global plan and announced its global construction and investment plan for 15 new OpenLabs in the next three years.

In 2017, Huawei plans to build 7 new OpenLabs in London, Paris, Moscow, and Johannesburg, bringing the total number of Huawei OpenLabs worldwide to 12. By the end of 2019, the total number of OpenLabs will increase to 20. During these three years, Huawei has invested nearly 1,000 people and a total of US$200 million in three years. Ultimately, by setting up new OpenLabs, Huawei will work with partners in multiple fields and industries around the world to create customer-centric, innovative industry solutions to promote digital transformation and drive the development of the industry ecosystem.