Alibaba CTO Wang Jian: The era of computing economy has arrived!

Rethinking cloud computing

This is the first time in six years that the Yunqi Conference has been moved from an outdoor venue to an indoor venue, which makes Wang Jian more worried. Hangzhou is sunny and windy at this time of autumn every year, and all previous conferences have been held outdoors. Indoors, without the concerns and challenges of the environment, Wang Jian is worried that his dream will be a little further away.

Wang Jian’s concerns are not without reason.

In the past five years, cloud computing has been a hot topic, but there are more opportunities to talk about cloud and less about computing. People have neglected the real value brought by computing in the Internet era.

In the early days of Alibaba's involvement in cloud computing and the naming of the company, Wang Jian was very conflicted because he did not think that cloud computing could best express the development of this era, but rather general computing. Looking back on the reasons for the "compromise", Wang Jian explained that it was difficult to be accepted by the industry ten years ago when discussing cloud computing in the name of cloud computing.

This is probably the reason why the theme of this Yunqi Conference is "Computing for the Incalculable Value".

"In any case, cloud computing has given us an opportunity to innovate," said Wang Jian. "The first 400 customers of Alibaba Cloud Computing were basically small and medium-sized webmasters. At that time, websites were everything on the Internet. In addition to these websites, the delegates attending the Yunqi Conference this time are more involved in cloud computing, big data, and mobile Internet, which means that the Internet has become the infrastructure for the innovation and development of the entire social economy."

The author believes that the fact that many exhibitors brought robots to the venue is the best illustration of this concept.

Wang Jian is very proud to host the Yunqi Conference in Yunqi Town. However, Yunqi Town is actually a village, and the Yunqi Conference is actually held in a rural area. All power supply designs are built according to rural standards. This is another huge concern for Wang Jian. When cloud computing becomes common water and electricity in daily life, security becomes a huge risk.

Concerns aside, isn't this also the goal of change? Wang Jian is still full of hope.

Talking about “big” data means lack of confidence in the data

Wang Jian believes that data is data, and adding a “big” in front of it and calling it “big data” shows that the industry lacks confidence in the data.

Any country road, when people walk on it, will definitely leave data, that is your footprints. This is true for country roads, and even more so for highways. If this data can be used well, so that people can guess who you are, how much you earn, and what you like, then the data will have value.

In Wang Jian's view, at any time in the development of the world, as long as there is infrastructure, there will be data, just like where there is a road, there will be footprints. The popularization and development of the Internet has changed the way people live and produce, and triggered a major information revolution and industrial revolution. As a national information infrastructure, the Internet, like roads and ports, is increasingly becoming the foundation for the development of various undertakings of the national economy.

Precisely because the Internet has become an infrastructure, data is naturally deposited at a lower cost and data has become a means of production.

"Data has become a means of production just like land and oil. This change is far beyond everyone's imagination. One of the prerequisites for data, as a means of production, to generate huge value is that the Internet has become an infrastructure," said Wang Jian.

Of course, privacy protection has also become one of the challenges facing the Internet.

Discover the ultimate value of data and embrace the era of data economy

Data has always been embarrassing for people, and Wang Jian is no exception.

"Some people ask how valuable Alibaba's data is, and I have no way to answer," Wang Jian said. But he knows that panning for gold in the sand is a figurative process of discovering the value of data, which was what cowboys in the American West were passionate about more than a hundred years ago. Today, everyone's mission and goal is actually to pan for gold in the sand, or to turn sand into gold.

This is the true value of computing, computing, can calculate the value of the uncomputable. It sounds a bit awkward, but it is true.

"The practices of customers on Alibaba Cloud tell us that in this era, because we have the Internet as infrastructure, we should have enough confidence in the value that data creates for people and society." Wang Jian cited Zhongruiqi, a startup company on Alibaba Cloud that specializes in electrocardiogram data monitoring and analysis, as an example, saying that data can only release its value when it is fully calculated.

At the "Technology is Public Service" forum held yesterday afternoon, Wang Jian also expressed a similar view. He said that when the Internet becomes infrastructure and data becomes an important means of production, computing must become a public service so that every citizen can enjoy the value that computing brings to society.

Alibaba Cloud released a new brand slogan "For Incalculable Value" at the 2015 Yunqi Conference. A series of brand advertisements with themes such as "Mobile Internet", "Finance", "Live Sports Events", "Life Sciences" and "New Energy" were also launched simultaneously at major airports across the country, sparking widespread heated discussion.

At the end of his speech, Wang Jian told the audience that the data economy is replacing the land and oil economy; when data becomes the most important means of production, when computing becomes a public service and becomes the core competitiveness of an enterprise's development, a new economic era has actually arrived, that is, the era of computing economy.