In the 5G era, operators are fully advancing cloud-network integration

At the same time, with the large-scale commercial use of 5G and the COVID-19 pandemic stimulating the development of online business, the demand for enterprises to move to the cloud has become more and more normalized. According to the "2020 Cloud Computing Development White Paper" by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the overall market size of cloud computing reached 133.4 billion yuan in 2019, with a growth rate of 38.61%. From the initial 0 to the current scale of 100 billion, China's cloud computing development has achieved phased results.

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For operators who are still struggling in the "pain period", cloud computing has become an important source of revenue growth. Breaking down the barriers between traditional IT and CT and building a new information infrastructure with advanced architecture, complete facilities, and integrated innovation is the goal of operator transformation, and cloud-network integration will help telecom operators transform from pure communication services to comprehensive information services.

Cloud-network integration becomes the focus of operators' business

As the pace of 5G commercialization accelerates, the industrial Internet is developing rapidly, and cloud-network integration is gradually becoming a future development trend. The deep integration of emerging information technologies represented by 5G and the real economy will promote intelligent connectivity, cloud-network integration, and other in-depth integration throughout the production links of various industries, effectively improve total factor productivity, promote the transformation of new and old kinetic energy, and fully unleash the amplification, superposition, and multiplication of digital technology on economic development.

Judging from the 2019 financial reports of the three major operators, emerging businesses such as cloud computing and big data have become highlights of business growth. In particular, the world's leading cloud service providers are strengthening their cooperation with telecom operators in the field of edge computing. Cloud-network integration is the main focus of operators in developing such new businesses.

With the continuous expansion of cloud computing application scenarios, cloud computing has been applied in traditional industries such as government, finance, industry, transportation, and logistics. The combination of 5G and cloud computing will better support the development of vertical industries, evolve towards the integration of mobile and cloud, and the integration of things and cloud, accelerate industry applications, and promote the interconnection of all things. At the same time, this also means that operators will usher in new development opportunities.

Facing the huge opportunities in the era of mobile Internet and smart business, telecom operators can leverage their network and channel advantages, cooperate with different cloud service providers, and provide users with a variety of cloud services. At the same time, operators also need to strengthen their business development capabilities to meet the complex and changing needs of corporate users.

Communications expert Yun Qing once proposed a new path for operators to build "intelligent pipeline" services with the help of cloud-network integration. He said: "Providing continuous and secure interconnection between data centers in enterprise networks may be an important service direction for operators to expand their cloud services. For example, NetBond, launched by AT&T in 2013, inherited various AT&T business points and provided users with more ways to connect to the cloud. Users can obtain cloud services on the network through virtual private network access on the Internet. Through the combination of these enterprise business service scenarios, AT&T provides an integrated hybrid solution to meet the needs of a range of users with different cloud strategies. Domestic operators can also seize the business opportunities brought by cloud-network integration and accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises."

Leveraging cloud-network integration to enter the toB track

Cloud-network integration is regarded by the industry as the "industry engine" for the intelligence of vertical industries. It is the core competitiveness of future operators to enter the toB market. If they want to share the market, they must give full play to their unique competitive advantages. Industry experts pointed out that telecom operators should build a new industry-oriented operation service system based on the network, focusing on cloud networking, cloud networking, cloud dedicated lines, cloud broadband and other cloud-network integration products and services, and realize one-stop acceptance and agile activation of cloud-network integration products. At the same time, with network connection as the center, network connection services for industry applications are provided to upstream customers, and the integration of partners' cloud service capabilities and operators' own network services is realized for downstream manufacturers, so as to build a cloud-network ecosystem with operator characteristics.

In the process of promoting cloud migration, China Telecom clearly put forward the work goal of "100% cloud migration for new systems and cloud migration for existing systems within 3 years" on July 16. At the same time, China Telecom continues to build and leverage the unique advantages of cloud-network integration to accelerate the extensive integration of emerging technologies and government and enterprise application scenarios. China Telecom's "Tianyi Cloud" ranks seventh in the global public cloud IaaS market and first among global operators. China Telecom currently has 315 cloud resource pools, ranking first in the Chinese hybrid cloud market, and its IDC business ranks first in China. Facing a broader market in the future, China Telecom will comprehensively accelerate the cloud reform process, promote cloud-network integration, build a digital platform for cloud-network integration, and create a new type of network infrastructure.

For China Mobile, cloud is both a new type of information infrastructure and a strategic key business. The "cloud transformation" is an important step for China Mobile to shift to value management. In the "cloud transformation", China Mobile's biggest advantage lies in the network, but to form stickiness, it also needs to rely on "cloud-network integration" to create differentiated advantages. China Mobile has reconstructed the cloud-network architecture for the ToB market, and continued to build cloud-network-edge industry-specific networks. Combined with the N+31+X mobile cloud layout, it has proposed a cloud-network integration strategy of "one cloud, one network, and integrated services", as well as 8 5G SA network clouds, giving full play to the resource advantages of cloud-network integration; promoting the deep integration of cloud + network IT systems, and gradually forming a centralized, digital, intelligent, and refined operation and maintenance system that runs through the cloud, network, and edge.

China Unicom attaches great importance to the cloud-network integration evolution strategy and has always regarded cloud-network integration as the focus of network and business development. In early July, China Unicom released new upgraded Wo Cloud products and solutions, including the new Wo Cloud 6 version and the new Wo Cloud smart PaaS capabilities. At present, Unicom Wo Cloud has provided digital transformation services to more than 100,000 domestic and government enterprises and institutions, covering the entire life cycle of users' cloud migration. In order to meet the growing demand for cloud services in the market, China Unicom, relying on its own network advantages, has cooperated deeply with the industry's mainstream cloud service providers to build an online cloud-network integrated self-service platform for government and enterprise customers-the cloud networking system. Based on China Unicom's industrial Internet, the system has realized the first large-scale commercial deployment of wide area network SDN in China. The network covers 334 cities and 35 overseas nodes across the country, and can provide automated, low-latency, convenient and fast self-service, realize data interoperability between public clouds, private clouds, data centers, and corporate offices, meet the needs of cloud-network integration, and provide users with end-to-end high-quality interconnection capabilities.

Visit the exhibition online, the excitement never stops

2020 is the year of the explosion of 5G construction in my country. The three major operators are aiming to cover 5G networks in cities at or above the prefecture level across the country and are constantly accelerating the pace of 5G network construction. The 5G era is the era of cloud, and it is also a critical period for cloud-network integration. With the support of 5G networks, with the network as the foundation and the cloud as the core, cloud-network integration can better provide comprehensive intelligent information services for thousands of industries.

At the 2020 China International Information and Communication Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as "PT Exhibition"), which is scheduled to arrive as scheduled, key and hot areas such as next-generation network technology products and services represented by 5G, system integration and comprehensive solutions, network infrastructure, cloud computing, big data, new technologies and applications such as the Internet of Things, and smart terminals will be heavily exhibited. It is understood that the three major operators will focus on exhibiting the important achievements since the commercial use of 5G, as well as the wonderful cases of 5G+ cloud network integration empowering thousands of industries, including 5G+Industrial Internet, 5G+Smart Energy, 5G+Digital Governance, 5G+Smart Business, 5G+Smart Port, 5G+Smart Healthcare, 5G+Smart Education, etc.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the "face-to-face" offline exhibition, this year's PT exhibition will also add a "screen-to-screen" online cloud exhibition PT Online for the first time. The PT Online online exhibition will be online 24 hours a day from October 10 to 30, 2020. Using modern information technologies such as the Internet, big data, and VR virtual reality, it transcends geographical and time constraints, allowing netizens who cannot be present in person to enjoy the most anticipated ICT industry event in 2020 in the cloud. The online exhibition includes: cloud summits, cloud displays, cloud negotiations, cloud transactions and other content. Exhibitors can participate in it through panoramic 3D exhibition halls and cloud summits, and visitors can use functions such as appointments, online visits, video playback, and business consultation.

In short, cloud-network integration is the only way for telecom operators to achieve transformation, provide integrated services to large enterprises, industries, small and medium-sized enterprises and other types of customers, and become comprehensive intelligent information service providers. The tide of "5G+cloud-network integration" has swept in, and telecom operators should grasp the trend of technology integration and industry development, give full play to their own resource endowments and technological advantages, and empower thousands of industries.