By  Xu Jun

President of Alibaba Cloud Computing

Funded by Alibaba Group, Alibaba Cloud Computing was established on September 10, 2009 with the mission of building an advanced, data-centric cloud-computing service company and a platform of Internet data-sharing. The company attracts top technical talents both domestically and internationally, and is committed to technological innovations in the fields of Internet and e-commerce based on the Alibaba Group’s experience in the e-business sector. World-class technology will help Alibaba become the most influential Internet company and biggest e-commerce service provider in the world and will bring a new experience in Internet and e-commerce for the future.

Alibaba Cloud Computing is committed to providing a comprehensive suite of basic cloud computing service. In the future, cloud computing will be a service that is provided anytime, anywhere as needed in the e-commerce, just like water and power became public infrastructure services. High-efficiency, green data-processing center and large-scale distributed storage and computing that supports various Internet and e-commerce businesses are the core technologies needed for service platforms of the next-generation for Internet and e-commerce. Technologies of new user experiences, distributed databases, wireless and mobile computing and search, as well as high-performance, high-scalability, high capacity and highly secure computing services will be the cornerstone for innovations of the Internet and e-commerce in the future.

The “Dream never ends” is our constant theme. Using first-class technology to better serve customers is a dream for everyone who works for Alibaba Cloud Computing. Users’ value and satisfaction brought by our technical innovations will encourage us to follow the next dream. Start-up companies and business models based on cloud computing technology will boost the development of new business rules and culture in this era of information and bring new commercial civilization that will benefit all of society.

Flexible cloud computing service, based on Alibaba’s cloud-computing platform, uses a flexible computing platform built with virtualization technology, an industry standard. Computing and storage services are provided based on virtual machines, which can distribute computing and storage capacity according to needs and relocate computing resources according to dynamic computer-scale changes of enterprises and individuals. Flexible cloud- computing service has the following features: (1) high serviceability; it supports most operating systems as well as full and para-virtualization. (2) high-performance that supports hardware virtualization acceleration. Para-virtualized drives will result in significant I/O performance. (3) high availability; average availability ratio of flexible cloud computing reaches 99.99 percent. (4) Live migration; virtual machines can be migrated between different hosts. (5) secure data; a distributed storage system will make sure data is never lost. (6) Snapshot backup; a function that can backup and restore data at a low cost. (7) network security and isolation technology; virtual visits are isolated in groups, and a custom firewall can prevent ARP cheating and resist DDoS attacks.

Super large-scale data processing service, also based on Alibaba’s cloud- computing platform, uses parallel computing as a core technology and distributes computing tasks and resources according to needs and is able to provide a compressive suite of data-processing service from data migration, integration, computational model building to output of computing results, multi-form display and API applications. It can also provide a reliable and flexible platform for scientific research institutes, animation and cartoon producing organizations and traffic units that need large-scale computing service. It is a way to promote dynamic scalability of resources. The platform supports various data processing and computational models, yet don’t require much time to construct or maintain the computing environment. A fault-tolerant, multiple-copy storage system makes mass storage secure and reliable.

Alibaba cloud map service, which is also based on Alibaba’s cloud-computing platform, provides basic map and location-based link service. It can provide partners more location-based information, data integration and a further development platform in an interactive way. Cloud computing technology-based search engine service is the essential search engine for e-commerce, mobile and advertising.

China can make better and stronger Internet companies. If effective competition in local Internet access becomes a reality, low-cost broadband metropolitan area network (MAN) access will no longer be a dream. Because of competition, broadband-access service providers hope their users acquire more information through their network (so as to keep customers satisfied). They will do as much as they can to bring in more content and provide better service. Access charges will eventually be led by the market. The third-generation mobile network is a good example. Adequate competition among three carries has greatly boosted the development of the mobile industry. As a result, the average citizen has the chance to use mobile communication tools to improve efficiency and help build a low-carbon economy. If more carriers are allowed to build long-distance transmission lines, or if any qualified companies are allowed to build their own optical communication network, charges for this kind of line will be reduced to a reasonable price that makes up of the cost and usage fees. Therefore, Internet companies such as Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba can afford large scale use of this kind of line. Unit cost of optical transmission (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) will be further reduced.

The large amount of clean energy produced in China’s western, northwestern and northeastern areas, such as wind power of as much as tens of millions of kilowatts generated in the northwestern area, and hydro power generated from chains of power plants on the Qinghai Plateau, should be used to run large-scale computing in these areas rather than being transferred to developed areas through expensive ultra-high-voltage (UHV) power networks. The price of power in developed areas should be raised to subsidize areas that provide clean energy. Cloud computing companies, which are all heavy power consumers, should be authorized to buy power directly from power plants. A combination of the above measures will effectively help reduce operating costs of large-scale cloud-computing data centers and promote the development of western and northwestern areas and boost rejuvenation of old northeastern industrial bases.

As stated previously, what we want is reasonable charges for broadband MAN access and low-cost, long-distance transmission lines, and a license for Internet data centers so that we can direct users’ requests to the integrated data center, which is powered by relatively cheap, clean energy. Large-scale distributed storage and computing, virtual machines, as well as natural cooling measures that can reduce energy consumption, and full direct current (DC) power supply technology all contribute to significantly reducing of the operating cost of the Internet, so we can provide low-priced, high-efficiency computing services for all businesses, and help break up the monopoly of industry chains and intellectual property of Western high-tech companies.

Cloud computing will bring China and the world huge benefits. A thin-client program will improve the added value of China’s manufacturing industry. The average profit ratio of China’s electronic manufacturing industry (ODM) is only 3 to 6 percent. Most of the profits go to foreign companies (such as operating systems and related software). If thin client can be accepted and used by vast numbers of Chinese users, the thin-client system software can be easily acquired by Chinese technology companies. In addition, the added value of electronic manufacturing industry will be improved, which will help transform the industry from labor intensive to technology intensive.

Cloud computing, which can help employ the effective use of clean energy, is in line with a low-carbon economy. Cloud-computing technology pulls together a large amount of cheap servers to run loosely-coupled parallel computing. It gathers these servers in one huge data center to reduce the side-effect of propagation delay on computing results during repeated computing. When one computing task enters the cloud-computing data center, all computing tasks can be done within the data center, and results will be sent back to initiator of the computing task, which means, there is a one-round delay that lasts for scores of milliseconds. So, there’s no need to place data centers in big cities. Because they require a large amount of power to do the computing, they should be placed near a source of power, which can reduce the loss of power during transmission. Building cloud-computing data centers in western China will make the best use of clean energy, reduce the loss of power during transmission and will reduce power grid construction costs. Cloud computing will help China reduce carbon emissions per GDP by 45 percent till 2020 compared with 2005.

3Utility Computing：Computing as a public infrastructure service. The great potential of cloud computing is that it makes computing become a public infrastructure service such as water and power. The impact on the entire society will be epoch-making when computing resources can be used whenever as wanted, extended according to needs and is secure and reliable. When small and medium-sized enterprises don’t have to invest time and energy on acquiring and maintaining computing resources, they will inevitably focus on business innovation and optimization. The rise and development of new commercial civilization with cloud computing as its representative business infrastructure will promote rapid growth of new business models, enterprises, rules and culture, and will benefit all society.

Thank you all for your attention！

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