Capacity Asia is a significant telecommunications conference in the Asia-Pacific region. It provides a platform for operators and enterprises to communicate and collaborate. Industry elites from major telecommunications companies, data centers, and cloud service providers attend the conference to discuss the latest trends, innovative technologies, and sustainable development in the industry. One of the conference's themes is "State of the Market: China – The Drive Towards Sustainability” where Connee Zhang, CEO of CypressTel, participated in a panel discussion with other industry experts - James McCartney (EVP of Sales at Chayora), Susanna Kass (UN Sustainable Development Goals Data Center Advisor), and Dedric Lam (Director of DCS Business Unit at CBRE).
During the panel discussion, Connee Zhang analyzed the trends and opportunities in the Chinese ICT industry. She pointed out that the trend driving China's economic development is shifting from the consumer internet to the industrial internet. Over the past two decades, the development of the consumer internet has impacted various industries positively. Telecommunications operators and ICT value-added service providers have also benefited from this trend, establishing data centers and submarine cables and developing new technologies such as SDN and edge computing. In the next five to ten years, the industrial internet will become a major force driving the economy.
CypressTel CEO Connee Zhang provided in-depth analysis on edge computing, SD-WAN, and data centers. Here is a summary of their insights:
Edge Computing is one of the technologies that will drive the adoption of new business applications by business leaders in China. Data centers are shifting location, with more being established in third- and fourth-tier cities in provinces such as Guizhou and Ningxia. As major companies have their branch offices primarily located in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, the rapid deployment, low latency, and flexible business orchestration of edge computing will meet the demands of new business applications.
The market share of MPLS continued to decline, with a decrease of 24%, primarily due to more enterprises choosing to build their networks using SD-WAN. CypressTel recognizes the trend of SD-WAN gradually replacing MPLS, and the next two years will continue to be a golden period for the development of SD-WAN, with more enterprises choosing to deploy SD-WAN.
The Chinese government has recently issued three major policies related to data centers, providing guidance for investors and data center service providers to improve energy efficiency, reduce PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), and encourage the development and use of renewable energy. Data centers have been a highly sought-after investment industry, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The surge in demand for e-commerce, remote work, online education, video streaming, and online gaming, particularly in the 5G era, requires robust, abundant, and stable data centers. The recent data center regulations issued by the Chinese government provide clear management and transparent future supervision, which is more favorable for investing in green and energy-efficient data centers.
Connee Zhang emphasizes the importance of understanding the industry's characteristics when it comes to technologies like edge computing, SD-WAN, SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), data centers, and others. These technologies can empower industries and enable their digital transformation.
