It is hard to imagine that an epidemic will have such a great impact on the operation of society. It has accelerated the process of social digital transformation, and more industries and enterprises are aware of the importance and urgency of “digitalization”. For 2021, digital transformation is destined to be inevitable. In this wave, telecom operators have missions, opportunities, advantages, and even greater challenges to improve their own capabilities.
Convergence of Cloud and Network to Build a Foundation for Digital Transformation
As the two key elements of the new information infrastructure, a ubiquitous, intelligent, high-speed, and secure network is the prerequisite for the interconnection of all things, and the cloud with super computing power and storage capacity is the basis for carrying various information services. In the 5G era, cloud and network coexist, grow, and merge with each other. They are becoming the foundation of new information infrastructure and jointly promoting the rapid development of digital transformation.
In the past year, a new generation of cloud-network-integrated information technology has built a new ubiquitous digital infrastructure, which has played a pivotal role in epidemic prevention and control, and resumption of work and production.
Affected by the epidemic, the digital demand of society was booming, and offline production, life, and consumption scenarios were quickly transferred to the cloud. "Communication Big Data Itinerary Card" helps prevent and control the epidemic in a more precisely way, "Cloud Conference" makes remote office more efficient, "Cloud Classroom" guarantees the students "suspend classes without stopping school", "cloud supervision" allows hundreds of millions of netizens to witness the speed of China... The new information infrastructure of cloud-network integration is fully supporting the orderly operation of "China on the Cloud" and is driving the transformation of the whole society to digital and intelligent.
In the process of building a base for digital transformation, cloud-network integration is not only the development direction of new information infrastructure, but also the characteristics and advantages of telecom operators. In the past year, the three major telecom operators in China have accelerated the creation of new digital infrastructures such as 5G and big data centers, and the advantages of cloud-network convergence have been continuously highlighted. China Telecom is advancing the evolution of the hierarchical layout from "Tianyi Cloud" to "2﹢4﹢31﹢X﹢O". It has 315 cloud resource pools across the country. Cloud-network integration resources and service capabilities with unique advantages. China Mobile continues to accelerate the construction of mobile cloud, has carried out the overall layout of "N﹢31﹢X" resources that radiates the whole country, and strives to build a smart cloud with integrated cloud and network, personal service, customized, safe and controllable. China Unicom has implemented the "5﹢2﹢31﹢X" data center layout plan, and is accelerating the national data center layout construction and strengthening the cloud network capabilities.
At present, under the dual effects of large-scale commercial use of 5G and the stimulus of online business development by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the demand for digital transformation in thousands of industries is breaking out. Cloud-Network integration, as the foundation for digital transformation, has undoubtedly become a key strategic business for telecom operators to transform into integrated intelligent information service providers and enhance their digital service capabilities.
Preparing for building digital service capabilities
Digitalization has been mentioned many times in the "14th Five-Year Plan" proposal, pointing out the direction for the future development of the digital economy and the digital transformation of society. 2021 is the first year of the "14th Five-Year Plan". The wave of digital transformation will bring huge development opportunities to the information and communication industry, and will also place new and higher requirements on the ability of the telecom operators to serve the digital transformation of society.
The National Industry and Informatization Work Conference held at the end of 2020 listed "accelerating the digital transformation of manufacturing" as one of the eight key tasks for building a new development pattern, and proposed to consolidate the digital foundation of the manufacturing industry, and carry out the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. Specific requirements such as the development of intelligent manufacturing and service-oriented manufacturing, and the improvement of software support capabilities. As a powerful promoter of digital transformation, it has become an urgent task for telecom operators to accelerate their own digital transformation while accelerating the construction of cloud-network-integrated information infrastructure, and to enhance the capabilities and capabilities of digital services. At the 2021 annual work conference held recently, the three major telecom operators have made it clear that "digital transformation" is still the key word for enterprise reform and development this year and in the future.
“Cloud- Network Integration” has become China Telecom's main strategy for the development of the "14th Five-Year Plan". China Telecom adheres to the basic principles and overall thinking of "network is the foundation, cloud as the core, network moves with the cloud, and cloud and network integration", and adheres to the development of enterprise "cloud reform" with business cloud, system cloud, and network cloud as the core strategy. It will accelerate the construction of new infrastructure for cloud-network integration, strive to build differentiated cloud-network service capabilities, and actively enable internal and external digital transformation.
China Mobile regards 5G and cloud as the "dual engine" of digital and intelligent transformation, and will continue to make efforts in four aspects: building "information high-speed", operating "information high-speed rail", building "smart middle station", and building "innovation highland". It will accelerate the advancement of digital network innovation, digital product innovation, digital technological innovation, and digital ecological innovation, and comprehensively accelerate the transformation of digital intelligence and high-quality development of enterprises.
2021 is a critical year for China Unicom to accelerate its comprehensive digital transformation, and it will help to achieve a new leap in high-quality development. China Unicom proposes to build a "cloud-network integration" infrastructure, continue to promote the evolution of network SDN, with the goal of "one cloud". It accelerates the implementation of the "5﹢2﹢31﹢X" cloud network layout and the business operations digitalization. It will reengineer the business production and operation processes, quickly accumulate core capabilities and core processes through the central office, and enable the “three Alls” and agile management. It will also build a brain for enterprise smart operations, establish a transparent, efficient, flexible and agile digital operation system, and use digital approaches to achieve precise command scheduling and strategic guidance.
Digital transformation is not only an important way for telecom operators to improve quality, efficiency and capability, but also an active exploration to help the development of the digital economy and better serve the digital transformation of society. In the coming days, telecom operators will continue to accelerate the construction of new information infrastructure, build digital capability platforms, give full play to the capabilities of cloud-network integration and empower the digital transformation of society.
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