Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 337 Kunlun & Big Data & Internet

"Cloud data center?"

Director Liu of the e-Government Resource Center finally spoke, leaning slightly forward, his tone inquisitive and tinged with doubt: "President Chen, as far as I know, Huawei and ZTE already have powerful data processing capabilities. Are you saying you want to build a dedicated center?"

"That's right, a super cloud data center cluster based in Shenzhen, serving Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and radiating across the country and even the Asia-Pacific region."

Chen Xuebing's voice was not loud, but it left no room for argument:

"The data centers of Internet companies and even telecommunications companies are currently just basic physical infrastructure for enterprise information systems. They emphasize stability and versatility, and provide support for centralized data storage and basic services."

"Big data centers are dedicated facilities specifically designed for massive, high-speed, and diverse data. They emphasize parallel computing and efficient processing capabilities, enabling advanced data analysis and value mining."

"In terms of scale, data centers can be large or small. Small facilities may only require a few server racks, and the technology stack is mainly general-purpose hardware CPU servers and traditional storage. However, big data centers start on a large scale, requiring at least thousands of racks and tens of thousands of servers."

"Big data technology is currently an advanced concept worldwide. Once it is developed in Shenzhen, it will become a key infrastructure for Shenzhen to embrace the future digital economy."

Director Liu still didn't quite understand: "What are you calculating in this big data stuff?"

Chen Xuebing grinned.

"Smart, smart, we've been talking about it for decades, but what exactly is smart? Does your current government service center, which simply stores data, ensures data security, and retrieves it for review when needed to write a government report, really qualify as smart?"

"No, intelligence is the ability to analyze data and even make judgments."

"Let me give you an example, healthcare."

"After a patient with a respiratory disease seeks medical treatment, their medical record is entered into the cloud data medical system. The system backend will immediately categorize this case into its category, indicating which drugs need to be supplied more, which types of diseases are growing faster in the area, whether there is a risk of accelerated infection, and at what level an alert needs to be issued to the local medical department and hospital, etc. It can analyze and provide real-time alerts for any information that professionals believe needs to be known at any time."

Upon hearing this, the two directors exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of surprise in each other's eyes.

Is it really that awesome?
How many people would be spared in the healthcare system?

Chen Xuebing continued, "There are many more potential applications. For example, the smartphones I developed, if they become widespread and integrated with software applications, can record in real time where a patient has been and what medical records they have. If a systemic infection risk occurs one day, this data can be immediately accessed from the regional system or even the national medical system backend to implement real-time control."

Surprise turned into shock.

"Is this even possible?" Director Gao couldn't help but ask.

“What do you mean by ‘possible’? I’ve already invested in this project.” Chen Xuebing chuckled. “Hefei is currently connecting to a medical appointment website, with eight hospitals piloting it. Patients can register for appointments online, saving queuing time. The hospital’s medical records will also be connected to a medical system, which contains the case data of tens of thousands of patients. I just need to get the data, build an analysis model, and a small pilot project will be completed. The next step for this system software is to develop a mobile application, and the functions I mentioned can be initially realized. It’s not difficult at all.”

"The difficulty lies in the massive server support required behind the scenes."

"Currently, the cutting-edge x86 server in the world has a single-machine performance of four-core CPU/16GB memory, and each unit costs tens of thousands of yuan. The capacity of a single mechanical hard drive is only 500GB-1TB, which is very expensive. To achieve such computing performance, it is also necessary to optimize the distributed computing framework of the terminal system. From the infrastructure perspective, it is also necessary to cooperate with municipal power supply and backbone network access."

"According to the government, this is at least a five-year plan, and continued investment will be needed for the next five or ten years."

"Perfect timing, the land reclamation project in Qianhai is still underway. We can wait for the reclamation, work on the bilateral project approval, and wait for a better server."

This is a data engineering project that is both urgent and time-sensitive.

Server performance will improve year by year.

Just like the demand for big data.

The later it is built, the lower the cost.

But research and development should start early.

His Kunlun system currently focuses its functions on the device side, and data processing relies on terminal performance, so it has low requirements for data centers.

The initial demand for backend servers was only triggered when software downloads and the integration of basic cloud services such as email and maps began.

However, as data volume surges and fragmented ecosystems increase, user behavior will generate massive requests, requiring a huge upgrade in architecture and computing power.

Currently, building data centers in the United States is sufficient to support global development, but future big data centers and related research and development will definitely need to be located in China.

Related research and development must be supported by a real big data center as a starting point.

Big data and computing power represent a complex technological line that involves both hardware and software, and also requires favorable natural conditions. The reason why data could be collected in the east and processed in the west in the past was because some areas in the west had abundant electricity and cool weather all year round.

Logically speaking, Guiyang, Guizhou, is an ideal place to build a big data center. The temperature is uniform, with an average annual temperature of 15 degrees Celsius. Natural ventilation is sufficient to significantly cool the servers. The geology is stable, the water and electricity resources are abundant, and the land price is cheap.

However, Qianhai also has its unique advantages.

Privileges for cross-border data flows.

It's not just because of the permission of the leaders in this life, but because in the previous life it was a service industry hub in Hong Kong and Macao, and could even be subject to Hong Kong law.

It is currently just a mudflat, but its administrative planning will undergo tremendous changes within a few years. In the future, it will have two systems, two legal systems, and three currencies, and will be known as a "special zone within a special zone".

In the future Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Qianhai will be the core. Until its rebirth, it was the core area of ​​the national development plan. The development goal is to connect the entire Greater Bay Area through intercity light rail and cross-sea bridges, eliminate physical barriers, and form a super city, just like Guangzhou and Foshan.

If this plan is followed, Qianhai will become the central CBD of the Greater Bay Area.

In this life, he has already obtained the prerequisites for entry, and even has a slight degree of control.

There isn't just one big data center; many will be built in the future, and this can serve as the first one.

Both Qianhai and Houhai in Shenzhen have great potential.

Once Qianhai is developed, he will have food to eat even 30 years from now.

Once Houhai is developed, he can immediately host a Manchu Han Imperial Feast.

However, one must take things one step at a time, and eat one bite at a time. Start with where you have an advantage.

The two directors, unaware of the grand plans in his mind, saw him as nothing short of Iron Man after hearing his words.

This Tony Stark, who has mastered future technology, seems to conjure up high-definition, uncensored holographic images with a mere wave of his hand.

They had begun to realize that their rank was somewhat too low for them to be sitting there talking to him.

Because they can't make decisions at all, they can only question.

"Well," Director Liu thought for a long time, then seized on the blind spot: "This big data center must cost a lot of money, right? Are you developing it all by yourself? Who will use it?"

Chen Xuebing chuckled and said, "Director Liu, do you remember what I just said about an industrial center?"

The two of them hesitated for a moment.

Director Gao was the first to react: "Cloud data." "Right." Chen Xuebing tapped his finger on the table. "The cloud is sometimes scattered and sometimes clustered together. The hardware-integrated big data center is the physical foundation, the largest cloud. Other data are scattered clouds that can be connected at any time through dedicated network ports. They can be analyzed, processed, and stored here, and everyone can share them. Of course, those who want to share have to pay me, and the price is not cheap."

Building a cloud service center is not something everyone can afford.

Technical support also requires many years of accumulation.

Like Alibaba Cloud in its previous life, it has been expanding its cloud infrastructure and making global deployments, which has created economies of scale. Financial reports show that the profit margin of this segment hovers around 10% every year.

In the early years, there were no competitors, and the profits were even higher.

If Qianhai were to build an inland big data center directly connected to overseas markets, its target customers would naturally be multinational internet companies, and the fees would be much higher, but the return on investment would be much faster.

Moreover, the talent and technology accumulation brought about by building such a data center is unimaginable, and it is irreplaceable for the development of its Kunlun system. Therefore, Alibaba wanted to enter the mobile phone system market in its previous life, but it retreated because of the ecosystem advantages of Android and the complexity of the mobile phone system.

With his first-mover advantage in this life, he can perfectly combine the two things, utilize each other's technologies, and create the strongest user experience.

After having dinner with Jack Ma and Peter Woo, he gained some inspiration and kept thinking about this issue. It was only after a long period of deep thought that he was able to speak fluently when proposing the Shenzhen-Hong Kong strategy to his superiors.

He has not only a strategy for Hong Kong, but also a strategy for Shenzhen.

I wasn't originally planning to talk about it today; I intended to include it in the plan. But then the director of the information center came by, and he brought it up:

"By undertaking this project, Shenzhen can not only attract internet companies to establish a presence in Hong Kong, but also be among the first to complete the construction of a 'smart city.'"

"The entire plan is divided into three parts."

"In the first phase, we hope to participate in the performance optimization of the government extranet backbone and the next-generation IPv6 deployment assessment project. This is not our core business, but it can help Shenzhen upgrade its internet-based government services. In the second phase, leveraging our experience in cloud computing and big data, we will undertake some non-core government cloud migration and disaster recovery backup system upgrade projects to improve data resilience and service continuity. In the third phase, based on the mutual trust and collaboration established in the first two phases, we will gradually explore the intelligent upgrade of more core systems, such as the optimization of the support system for the city operation management platform."

"This plan is also for five years."

He's becoming more and more outspoken; he no longer needs to shy away from some of his more progressive ideas.

He was a planner authorized by his superiors, so even if the locals didn't understand, they would just think it was their own ignorance.

Moreover, with his medical examples as a foundation, there was nothing the two of them couldn't understand.

Both directors looked rather embarrassed.

All they knew was that the task was assigned by the leader who had come to the Shenzhen Trade Fair some time ago, to cooperate in an exchange on the internet industries between Hong Kong and Shenzhen and to promote cooperation in Qianhai, but they didn't know exactly how the higher-ups had assigned the task to their superiors.

Seeing the complexity and scale of this project, I was quite surprised.

In particular, Director Gao listened and looked at the documents, and just saw a number in the documents that made his heart tremble.

"50 billion in the first phase, 30 billion annually? Mr. Chen, is this the total investment amount for the project?!"

Chen Xuebing shook his head.

Director Gao looked disappointed for two seconds, then continued flipping through the pages.

Chen Xuebing's words once again disrupted his concentration: "This is just my investment, it doesn't represent the entire project. Once this big data center is developed, internet companies from Hong Kong and the mainland will gather here and share the internet economy of Hong Kong and overseas. How could it only cost this little bit of money?"

He didn't know what the plan was or whether the leadership had clearly explained it to Shenzhen.

It is difficult for the internet service industry to enter Hong Kong, which will impact the physical economy and cause many local problems, as there are precedents in the past.

Forget about online shopping and Alipay; even Carrefour supermarket delivery trucks are blocked at intersections and can't get into those streets and alleys.

Even if prices in Hong Kong can't be the same as on the mainland, if you lower the price of a Coca-Cola from HK$12 to HK$8, will the company still have any business? Will it still make that much profit?
What can he do?

There will inevitably be fighting on the front lines, so the servers on the back must be stable. Otherwise, if the network or power goes out, what's the point of playing?

The leader's instruction to him was "take small steps forward, but quickly accumulate strength in Shenzhen," which shows that the leader understood.

What is the meaning of accumulating strength?

We need to move all the internet servers we're using to expand into Hong Kong to Qianhai!

First, the internet connection between the two places was established, gradually permeating people's hearts and minds.

Once the policy is implemented, a major battle will break out.

His family isn't going anywhere; many internet companies will need to set up server clusters here, ready for battle. When the banner is raised, his big data center will lend a hand, and when the time is right, everything will work together.

He actually had another concern.

This plan is too long-term; the government is about to change.

Although my country's policies have always been very consistent, the attitude of the leaders in charge of commerce toward Hong Kong will certainly not be the same in every term.

So he should take advantage of the support he has now and make the most of it.

Even after arriving in Shenzhen, they didn't want to give up and actively sought opportunities.

With just a thought or a wave of the hand, one can quickly make a decision.

Thinking of this, he said, "Qianhai is not only a data interface, but also a deep-water port with a very short sailing distance to Hong Kong. With the increasing internet consumption, online shopping companies can list their goods in Hong Kong from here, and even use Hong Kong's customs policy to ship them directly overseas. This plan will greatly promote the integration of Shenzhen and Hong Kong."

Upon hearing this, Director Gao of the Information and Trade Commission of the Commerce Bureau immediately frowned, considering even more possibilities.

Port cooperation, internet transit, urban planning.
He vaguely recalled attending a municipal government meeting where a "Qianhai Special Economic Zone concept" was mentioned, and several leaders were debating the content of their argument. The content of the debate sounded somewhat similar to what was happening now.

This is not something they should be listening to at all.

He immediately raised his hand: "President Chen, wait a moment! We need to report to our superiors!"

After he finished speaking, he exchanged a glance with Director Liu of the e-government resource center.

Who's going?
He didn't know much about this big data center.

Director Liu doesn't know much about business port matters.

Why is it that this young CEO seems to know everything?

Oh well, I guess I ran into a freak today.

Let’s go together!

(End of this chapter)