China Daily

Big data center to propel Zhongwei’s cloud computing industry

- By ZHENG YIRAN zhengyiran@chinadaily.com.cn

A big data center was announced on Wednesday which will be establishe­d in the Western Cloud Base in Zhongwei, in Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region, as the city steps up efforts to further develop its cloud computing industry.

The center, called the People (Zhongwei) Big Data Center, is the 15th data center to enter the cloud base.

Jointly launched by People.cn Co Ltd, the online portal of the People’s Daily, and the government of Zhongwei during the 2019 Cloud Computing Internatio­nal Summit, the center aims at enhancing cooperatio­n in cloud computing and big data, taking advantage of the Belt and Road Initiative to build the online Silk Road, and promoting the industrial transforma­tion and highqualit­y developmen­t of Zhongwei.

An adaptation center developed by Shandong-based cloud computing solution and service provider Inspur Group was also launched in the summit. Its goal is to realize the developmen­t of informatio­n security in the cloud base, and promote the developmen­t of informatio­n security in Zhongwei.

“China’s cloud computing industry has been burgeoning in the past few years, maintainin­g a 30 percent average annual growth rate. Ningxia, as an important node of the Silk Road Economic Belt, has an obvious regional advantage of developing cloud computing and bid data,” Sui Jing, deputy director of the informatio­n communicat­ion administra­tion of the Ministry of Industry and Informatio­n Technology, said.

Li Xiaobo, mayor of Zhongwei, said that “with the city’s geology, climate and energy advantages, in recent years, Zhongwei has been taking active measures to build its Western Cloud Base into one of the country’s major agglomerat­ion areas for a data center. The measures include improving supporting infrastruc­ture, implementi­ng green projects, and accelerati­ng major data center constructi­on.”

According to Li, there were 200,000 servers in the cloud base at this time, and the accumulate­d investment into fixed assets totaled 6.47 billion yuan ($911.8 million).

The added-value of the informatio­n transmissi­on, computer services and software industry in the base surged by 31.8 percent year-onyear, contributi­ng to 14.4 percent of the area’s gross domestic product. The cloud computing industrial chain led in the investment of more than 3 billion yuan, and generated jobs for 3,000 people.

“The city serves as a great example of transformi­ng the sands of the Gobi into a hot land for innovative developmen­t,” Li said.

Ma Li, president of the China Internet Developmen­t Foundation, noted that with the rapid developmen­t of China’s internet industry, Zhongwei tapped into its unique inborn advantages to build the Western Cloud Base, using the cloud computing industry to drive the city’s informatio­n transmissi­on and computer service software industry.

The Chinese government has attached great importance to the applicatio­n and exploratio­n of big data, and the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) had promoted big data developmen­t into a national strategy.

“Guided by the applicatio­n of smart city and the developmen­t of the cloud computing industry, in the future, Zhongwei will continue to integrate informatio­n resources, improve the level of infrastruc­ture digitizati­on, and accelerate the constructi­on of the Western Cloud Base to build Zhongwei into a well-managed, harmonious and industrial­ly synergisti­c city,” said Cui Kun, vicemayor of Zhongwei.

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