China Telecom has revealed its cloud strategy for 2012, announcing a lineup of eSurfing cloud devices and storage products scheduled for release next year.
One of the earliest telecoms to form a cloud project team, China Telecom began its work in 2009 and has since completed testing in several major locations, including Shanghai, Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangxi. The company has also established a dedicated data centre to serve as the hub for large-scale cloud deployment. In early 2011, China Telecom launched a major initiative to expand access to its optical fibre network; that network has since been rolled out to 342 cities and 2,055 counties, reaching approximately 90% of China’s villages and towns.
Yang Jie, vice general manager of China Telecom, noted that the company now operates about 300 cloud rooms covering a combined area of ten million square metres. China Telecom has finished pilot tests of its new storage products and expects to begin formal commercial operations in early 2012. According to Yang, robust network capacity is essential to support the large-scale growth of cloud computing services.
In recent years, China Telecom has shifted from a traditional telecommunications operator to a technology-driven information service provider, increasing profitability by expanding beyond voice services. Commenting on China Telecom’s latest cloud strategy, Shang Bing — vice minister at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China and former party secretary of China Telecom — said the launch of the eSurfing cloud computing strategy represents a new phase in the company’s transformation. The Ministry plans to support the cloud sector’s development by creating targeted guidelines for the industry.