China is Planning to Purge Foreign Technology and Replace With Homegrown Suppliers

[cirr]

Huawei launches world-class NFV open lab to lead the NFV era

huawei | Posted: 21 Jan 2015, 09:37

Huawei announced the launch of its new, state-of-the-art Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) open lab in Xi’an, China, dedicated to developing multi-vendor integration verification capabilities, expanding joint service innovations with customers, partners and industrial organizations and accelerating development of the open eco-system for NFV infrastructure, platforms and services. Global leading operators and partners, including China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, VMware, Red Hat and Canonical, attended the launch ceremony.

On January 20, 2015 global leading operators and partners launched the NFV open lab with Huawei in Xi’an, China/ From left to right: Xiaodong Duan (China Mobile), Leonard Tsai (Canonical), Dr. Howard Liang (Huawei), Alan Ren (Vmware), Haixu Ma (Huawei) , and Dr. Sen Ming Chang (Red Hat)

(Dr. Howard Liang giving a speech at the NFV open lab launch ceremony)

Dr. Howard Liang, Senior Vice President and President of Global Technical Services, Huawei, said, "The NFV open lab is an open innovation center of ICT convergence dedicated to being open and collaborative, expanding joint service innovations with partners, and developing the open eco-system of NFV to aggregate values and help customers achieve business success."

With rapid development of cloud technology, user behavior has adopted five main characteristics: real-time; on-demand; all-online; DIY (Do it Yourself); and social (ROADS). In this new environment, traditional CT service architecture cannot meet user demands for a ROADS experience, meaning that operators are required to transition to ICT integrated cloud architecture. With these changes, new technologies have also emerged, the most dominant being NFV and SDN. Among its benefits, NFV allows traditional telecom networks to become more open and flexible, faster at service innovation enhancements, reduce operation & maintenance (O&M) costs, and expand the industrial chain.

However, in the process of enabling NFV, operators must overcome several challenges including ensuring multi-vendor product consistency, reliability, and interoperability, tackling integration complexity, creating an optimized NFV O&M experience, and identifying new revenue streams.

To address this, Huawei will continuously build its multi-vendor integration verification platform based on typical service scenarios, as well as accumulate experience through ongoing tests and projects to eventually build an NFV big data analysis platform. In addition to providing reliable data support for operator NFV network service planning and decision-making, Huawei will leverage the big data platform to develop joint solutions with industrial organizations, operators, and partners to obtain certifications and authorization from cross-parties, while gradually enriching the eco-system chain. Finally, Huawei, together with its partners, will continuously work to verify and enhance NFV system integration and O&M technical support capabilities. In the initial phase, Huawei is working closely with China Mobile, VMware, and Red Hat in these areas.

Huawei first proposed the future-oriented telecom network architecture SoftCOM in 2012 which incorporates advanced technologies including NFV, SDN, and cloud computing. SoftCOM aims to transform the telecom industry in terms of network architecture, network functions, and business and operation models. It will enable telecom carriers to realize comprehensive network evolution and business transformation, create and seize new value opportunities through ICT integration, and advance an open, interconnected, and innovative ecosystem to increase and better leverage aggregated industry value.

With an open and coordinated strategy, Huawei currently cooperates with more than 20 global leading operators on joint innovations and project verifications to accelerate NFV transformation and achieve win-win solutions. Huawei also works closely with industrial organizations, as well as the open source community such as ETSI, OpenStack, OpenDaylight, and OPNFV (Open Platform for NFV), to provide key technical contributions, code development, and integration capabilities to support the Open NFV initiative. In the upcoming year, Huawei will work with more than 50 industrial partners on in-depth joint explorations.

 

[TaiShang]

After crowdfunding triumph in China, smart power adapter maker raises $6.4M funding
Jan 20, 2015

Kankun Technology, the maker of a smart electrical socket in China, has announced it raised a series A round worth RMB 40 million (US$6.4 million) led by Beijing Holch Capital, according to Sina Tech.

Kongke is best known for K-series smart plugs. The universal power adapters connect to a user’s home wifi and are controlled by a smartphone app. The basic version boosts wifi signal, monitors phone charging, and powers on plugged-in appliances like lights, washing machines, water heaters, and air conditioners remotely. The process can be automated to work with your daily schedule; for instance, turning on the air conditioner on the way home from work.

The second generation of the plug adds a suite of USB-powered gadgets like a security camera, infrared remote for appliances, and climate monitor. The K2 does everything the basic version does plus integrates the USB modules and comes with two built-in USB charging ports. The modules send signals to the plug, which push the data and video stream for the camera to the smartphone app.

Both devices were successfully crowdfunded on Demohour, a Chinese counterpart to Kickstarter. The basic version raised over US$100,000, while the K2 raised a whopping US$837,000.

Kankun’s devices all communicate using the Zigbee protocol – the same way Xiaomi’s smart home gadgets talk to each other. The plugs cost RMB 79 (US$13) and RMB 99 (US$16), while the USB modules cost RMB 29 to 39 (US$4.70 to $6.30) each.

Kankun will put the fresh funds toward new product development, user experience enhancement, and expanding the team. The startup is reportedly working on a new product, but no details have surfaced yet as to what it might be.