On April 21, 2021, China IDCquan and VNET Group jointly held the 2021 China IDC Discovery Summit in Beijing under the guidance of Data Center Committee of China Communications Industry Association (CCIA), in order to discuss the past, present and future of IDC, and jointly explore the industry development trends and the next-generation IDC solutions.

At the conference, wonderful keynote speeches were delivered by Wu Zhongze (former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China), Jin Heping (Chairman of Data Center Committee of China Communications Industry Association (CCIA) & Chief Information Officer of China Three Gorges Corporation), Jiao Gang (Director of CITIC Networks & Vice Chairman and CEO of Yingtong Technology), Wei Kai (Deputy Director of Cloud Computing & Big Data Research Institute, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), and other industry leaders, as well as leaders from the sponsor organizations, such as Josh Chen (Founder of VNET Group), Samuel Shen (CEO of VNET Group), Huang Chao (CEO of China IDCquan) and other guests.

In addition to the main venue, VNET Group launched three special cloud conferences in different places simultaneously, focusing on the themes of “Integration and Innovation of Energy and Information Technology Under the Background of China's “30·60” Decarbonization Strategy”, “Development Opportunities and Solutions in the Era of 5G”, and “Cloud Network Convergence Presents New Engine in the Post-pandemic Era”.

IDC Industry Has Great Investment Potential in the New Era??

2021 is the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Under the guidance of the policy of “building a digital China”, IDC industry will embrace unprecedented development opportunities. With the rapid development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, the wave of new infrastructure is sweeping all over the world. In view of China's “30·60” decarbonization strategy, how to explore a new development path for IDC industry and build a next-generation digital economy foundation in the new era?

Note: Wu Zhongze, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China

At the conference, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology Wu Zhongze pointed out that, according to the statistics of China IDCquan research center, the market scale of China's data center industry exceeded RMB 200 billion in 2020, and the revenue of traditional IDC business almost reached RMB 100 billion, maintaining a growth rate of 25%+ for three consecutive years. The IDC industry has entered a rapid development track. “In the new round of global technology revolution and accelerated industrial transformation, China's data center industry also shows several new development trends: Firstly, it attaches great emphasis to creating a good industrial ecology and building cross-border cooperation mechanism. Secondly, the development of IDC tends to be distributed and marginal. Thirdly, the deep integration with artificial intelligence is accelerated. Fourthly, smart energy technology is used to improve the energy efficiency of data centers, paying attention to energy conservation and environmental protection, and promoting the development of green data centers,” pointed out by Wu Zhongze.

Note: Jin Heping, Chairman of Data Center Committee of China Communications Industry Association (CCIA) & Chief Information Officer of China Three Gorges Corporation

In terms of zero carbon in IDC industry, Jin Heping, Chairman of Data Center Committee of China Communications Industry Association (CCIA) & Chief Information Officer of China Three Gorges Corporation, pointed out that, the core issue is to change “watt” into “bit”, turn green power into green data, turn green power output into green computing power output, and turn the electricity energy value per kilowatt hour (kWh) into the value of computing power per kilowatt hour (kWh). Taking Dongyue Temple Big Data Center in Three Gorges as an example, Jin Heping further pointed out that: “The Dongyue Temple Big Data Center in Three Gorges not only achieved the goal of zero-carbon green data center in the design of traditional energy-saving technologies such as energy-saving in the construction process, natural cooling source and cooling technology, AI intelligent control optimization, but also fundamentally realized the goal of zero-carbon green data center by replacing the traditional energy with green energy in the data center.”

Note: Jiao Gang, Director of CITIC Networks & Vice Chairman and CEO of Yingtong Technology

In the 5G era, tremendous changes and upgrading have taken place in the traditional network. At the conference, Jiao Gang, Director of CITIC Networks & Vice Chairman and CEO of Yingtong Technology, stated that the future digitization will present four major features: Internet of Everything, data explosion, computing reconstruction, and cloud network convergence. Jiao Gang pointed out, “In the past, we provided services in the traditional data center. In the future, all services will be implemented in the data center, such as traditional voice services and video services”.

Note: Wei Kai, Deputy Director of Cloud Computing & Big Data Research Institute, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)

?

The value of data as a new production factor was discussed at the conference. Wei Kai, Deputy Director of Cloud Computing & Big Data Research Institute, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), said that data has become a production factor, and opened up unlimited space for digital economy. The real data flood is just around the corner. A new generation of data platform is needed to meet the future demand. “Infrastructure investment has increased substantially due to the favorable new infrastructure policy. With the large-scale application of new data center technologies in commercial areas, a new wave of data center construction is sweeping over the world.”

Since its emergence, digital cornerstone has been evolving to meet the needs of the times

The industry emerged and constantly evolved to meet the needs of the times. In 1996, the concept of IDC (Internet Data Center) was put forward for the first time. In 1996, China established the prototype of IDC service - hosting/ colocation service and infoport service, and VNET Group was established in the same year.

Over the past 25 years, China's IDC industry has experienced several development stages: emergence, calm and benign development, and rapid growth, and gradually become mature and made great achievements. As one of the pioneering carrier-neutral infrastructure service providers in China, VNET Group has made great contributions to the diversified and vigorous development of IDC industry in China, and accelerated China's economic and social development in the information and digital era. At the conference venue, Samuel Shen, CEO of VNET Group, reviewed the development of China's IDC industry in the past 25 years. He said that the past 25 years can be divided into three stages: PC portal era, mobile Internet era, and cloud computing & big data era.

Samuel Shen, CEO of VNET Group

“In the first stage, VNET Group built the B28 Data Center in Beijing in 1999, which successfully interconnected the networks of the three major carriers in China. In the second stage, especially after 2005, mobile phones began to shift focus from function to intelligent upgrading. In 2010, there were 6 billion people in the world, and each person had 4.7 mobile devices on average. Meanwhile, more digital devices led to the exponential growth of data, and also improved the overall work productivity of the IDC industry. The year of 2010 can be regarded as the first year of cloud computing, and the starting point of the third stage. Cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence have become new favorites. Data has become a new energy, and the amount of global data has been doubled every 18 months, posing more challenges to the IDC industry,” said Samuel Shen.

Past is prologue. At the conference, VNET Group announced that the upgrade logo of the company will be used. Samuel Shen said, “The third dots implies the Chinese traditional philosophical thought- the three begets all things of the world; and all things in the world are interconnected world.” VNET Group will carry forward the quintessence of Chinese culture.

Keep the Pace with China and Launch Infinite Games of the IDC

Looking into to the future, the wave of new infrastructure construction is sweeping all over China, the 14th Five-year Plan presents new development expectations for digital economy. A new round of revolution is about to take place in China's IDC industry, and the data center is becoming a new highland of technological innovation.

As a witness of the development of China’s IDC industry in the past 25 years, Josh Chen, the Founder of VNET Group, delivered a keynote speech on “Launching Infinite Games of the IDC”, and unfolded the blueprint of next-generation IDC solutions. He said, “The next-generation IDC solutions will be based on the cloud native and blockchain native technologies, the DCEP digital currency system launched by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the new power system with new energy as the main body, and China's “30·60” decarbonization strategy. We will closely cooperate with State Grid, telecom carriers and radio and television operators.”

Note:Josh Chen, Founder of VNET Group

?

Josh Chen pointed out that the blockchain native IDC new infrastructure will empower the next-generation digital economy in the world. Edge computing of 5G base station may be a pseudo proposition. Cloud native technology, frontier network + urban computing are breeding the new species of blockchain native IDC. Looking ahead into the next 25 years, with the development of cloud native technology, it is likely that a new customer-engaged cloud platform, which is based on edge-side new infrastructure and cloud native, will come into our life in the future.

As James Cass wrote in his book Finite and Infinite Games, “finite games are defined by their boundaries, while infinite games are defined by their horizons”. Technology drives the transformation of IDC industry, and the scenarios reshape the boundary of IDC industry.

Note: Huang Chao, Executive Director of Data Center Committee of China Communications Industry Association (CCIA) & CEO of China IDCquan

With the emergence of new technologies and new scenarios, the boundary of IDC industry is gradually blurred, and the traditional industry form cannot meet the future development needs of the country anymore. Huang Chao, Executive Director of Data Center Committee of China Communications Industry Association (CCIA) & CEO of China IDCquan, mentioned in his speech that China's IDC industry is entering the Industry 4.0 era with “clear division of labor and all-round cooperation”. In the future, the major application scenario of data centers will shift from consumer Internet to industry Internet.

In addition to the wonderful keynote speeches mentioned above, many guests also combined the characteristics of their own enterprise, and discussed the new opportunities and challenges in the era of digital economy. The guests include Pan Zhu (Director of Application Management Division of Information Technology Department of China Everbright Bank), Cao Yang (Special Assistant to CEO of Baozun), Guo Yiqun (Senior Expert of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Infrastructure), Zhou Jian (Vice President of JD Cloud), Ding Qigang (Vice President of Technical Services and Software Division of Vertiv Greater China Region), etc.

Over the past 25 years, China's IDC industry has always evolved to meet the needs of the times. In the future, how will China's IDC industry empower the development of the times? Industry leaders represented by VNET Group will bring us answers.

Source：Xinhuanet