Kathy Gibson reports from Huawei Network Congress in Beijing – The new Industrial Revolution has begun, and ICT has a massive role to play. However, to effectively aid in the development of Industry 4.0, ICT vendors need to partner with one another as well as with a network of companies within the industrial environment.
Huawei has launched its Business-Driven ICT Infrastructure where it is actively seeking partners to help it make a meaningful contribution to the digitalisation of industry.
Yan Lida, president: Enterprise Business Group at Huawei Technologies, says that Huawei is well positioned to drive this initiative.
“Half of our employees work in R&D, and this is fundamental to our development. Huawei has become the only Chinese company in the Thomson Reuters Innovative companies survey,” he says.
With a focus on customer-centric innovation, Huawei’s BDII approach will lead the way to the next industrial revolution by facilitating in-depth integration of ICT infrastructure development and software applications, development of innovative infrastructure, and joint innovation efforts with partners.
Rapid development in technology has created a need for next-generation ICT infrastructure, which heavily relies on the application of ICT technologies such as the Internet and smart devices. This has resulted in significant changes and innovations across various industries.
“Since 2010, innovative ICT has started to become a key component of enterprise businesses and the foundation of their production systems,” said Lianfeng Wu, Associate vice-president, IDC China.
“Growth in enterprise businesses and ICT development has become organic and inseparable. Enterprise are driving demands for the development of ICT infrastructure and this infrastructure is essential to defining enterprises’ business models. The BDII approach is a key component of evolution within vertical industries.”
He points out that companies are facing four main challenges: the economy, new competitors, over the top (OTT) vendors, and the personalisation of customer needs.
“Based on these challenges, how can companies play a role in company development?” he asks.
“It can enable us to reduce costs and improve efficiency, while restructuring business models.”
A lot of companies are experiencing revolutionary change and now offer ICT-enabled services which wholly changes the business framework, he adds.
In addition, ICT can enable more innovation, particularly in production chains
“We believe that in the future all companies must be technology driven companies. ICT will play a more important role in the future.”
IDC’s position is that the 3rd Platform – cloud, mobility, big data and social media – continues to transform the enterprise through the customer experience, the business processes, products and services; and the business model.
“We need to think about the impact that ICT is making on digitalisation,” Wu says.
“At Huawei Enterprise, to build BDII is a guiding principle, enabling us to lead the way to the new industrial revolution. BDII consists of three core components – to think with a business-driven mindset, facilitate joint innovation, and focus on ICT infrastructure,” said Yan Lida, President, Huawei Enterprise Business Group, Huawei.
“With the BDII approach, Huawei will continue to focus on developing ICT infrastructure with an open structure through joint innovation. This will provide enterprises with more innovative, differentiated, and cutting-edge products and solutions to help drive business transformations, seizing opportunities presented by the new industrial evolution and adding value to support business success.”
Hongquan Li, vice-president of Hexagon AB, shares his experience in working with Huawei on developing smart city technologies. Hexagon is a leading global provider of information technology that drives productivity and quality
across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications.
“Huawei is a strong and innovative ICT infrastructure products and solutions provider. Working with the company perfectly complements Hexagon China’s strength in integrated design, measurement, and visualisation technologies. While working on joint innovations to develop smart city solutions, Huawei provided Hexagon with support on network-related areas such as storage calculation and estimation, integrated communication, and video capacities to enable Computer Aided Design and Geographic Information System software functions.
“It also provided comprehensive technology support around R&D and testing,” says Li. “Without Huawei, Hexagon would not have completed our 4G-based visualised communications technology upgrade in just two months. The newly launched version is the industry’s first visualised command centre for smart cities to help address various security challenges more effectively and with more control.”
Tianwu Wang, senior vice-president of Sobey Digital, the largest software developer and integrated service provider of the radio and television industry in China, is another BDII partner: “As the media industry encounters challenges presented by the rise of new media, especially with higher demands for high-definition (HD) content and instant and multi-screen communications, ICT infrastructure needs to be able to support enhanced technologies and networks.
“By combining Huawei’s capabilities in open and cloud-based Architecture and Sobey’s media industry experience, our jointly launched Omni-Media High Difinition Production Cloud Solution caters to specific demands for high-torrent video production. The solution provides leading software features such as GPU virtualisation and beyond. Huawei’s support around network, cloud computing, and big data solutions has been significant to Sobey’s R&D initiatives. In addition, our jointly launched Cloud-based Solution has been adopted by multiple local and provincial TV stations in Shenshen and Hunan, effectively boosting productivity and enhancing resource utilisation.”
To support ICT transformation in the new industrial revolution era, BDII requires collaboration between Huawei, customers and partners to achieve success and maximise business value. “Huawei Inside” is the most accurate description for Huawei’s integrated strategy and reflects the spirit of joint innovation. Working with partners is as an important link between Huawei and its customers, and is also strategically essential to deliver BDII.
BDII calls for closer collaboration between Huawei and its partners and better coordinated innovation. To achieve this, Huawei will deepen these relationships through launching partnership plans and industrial alliances to create channels that will help to accelerate transformation. With the BDII approach, Huawei will strengthen cooperation through enhanced strategic planning, technology development, market-orientation, and talent cultivation.
Strategically, Huawei believes in trilateral cooperation for partnership success. In practice, it ensures that the implementation and accomplishments of joint innovations and success of all three parties are achieved through close co-operation in technology, human resources, and market orientation. In Huawei’s view, open-minded joined innovations involving all three parties and guided by the BDII approach will result in business success.