“In 1943, IBM's Thomas Watson said the world market for computers would be about five,” said rotating CEO Guo Ping during his keynote at Huawei Connect 2017.
That number is significant, said Guo, as he spoke of Huawei's vision to build one of the five major world clouds it predicts will be created in the future. The concept is based on airline alliances—Ping said that his firm would build a “cloud alliance” in partnership with operators like BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Orange.
“Only 2-3 companies can do what we do, he said.” About 50% of people globally use Huawei networks.”
In a later press conference, Guo reiterated a point he made during his keynote. “The biggest difference between Huawei & traditional OTT companies is that Huawei does not monetize user data,” he said. “We monetize our technology.”
Guo also provided details on Huawei's hybrid cloud solutions that target the needs of governments and enterprises. “Huawei Cloud builds on the company's decades of experience in devices, networks, clouds, and other digital domains, and is better equipped to achieve synergy between devices and the cloud,” said the company in a statement.
Zheng Yelai, president of Huawei's Cloud Business Unit, mentioned case studies from 12 automobile companies (including Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz), Philips, ICBC, and several Chinese government service platforms currently using Huawei Cloud and cloud services from Huawei's partners.
"Our people have an in-depth understanding of our customers' business scenarios,” said Zheng. The aim is to “help enterprises go digital more smoothly, and help ensure the success of more companies who are willing to innovate," he said.
At the event, Huawei also announced the launch of its new Enterprise Intelligence cloud services, which the company will provide with a platform of general and scenario-specific solutions. “To prevent vendor lock-in, Huawei offers hybrid cloud solutions that enable integration with third-party public cloud platforms, including those from Amazon and Microsoft,” said Huawei in a statement.
“Huawei has worked with its partners to build a cloud network that has global coverage, providing complete solutions that help Chinese companies go global, and that also help companies outside China enter the Chinese market,” said the firm.
Yang Xiaoling, CDO of China Pacific Insurance Company (CPIC), also spoke on his firm's use of Huawei technology—specifically, using OCR technology to handle health insurance claims. Customers are able to take photos of their medical documents and upload the images to CPIC's system, which will automatically read them and create structured claims documents.
Li Qiang, division chief from the Shenzhen Traffic Police Bureau, referred to his analysis of intelligent urban transportation as Shenzhen's “Traffic Brain.” Li claimed a ten-fold increase in image screening efficiency by using Huawei's AI platform. “The intelligent traffic solution jointly developed by Huawei and the Shenzhen Traffic Police Bureau was honored with the ‘2017 Innovative Road Traffic Offering’ award from the Chinese Road Traffic Safety Association,” said Huawei.