The evolution of the cloud industry is moving in a direction that will require technology vendors to build an alliance that will provide global services to customers and partners.

This is according to Guo Ping, Huawei's rotating CEO and deputy chairman, who said the concept of this global cloud network can be modelled on airline alliances such as Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld.

Ping delivered the keynote address to kick-start Huawei Connect 2017 in Shanghai, China, yesterday. Held under the theme "grow with the cloud", this year's event focuses on Huawei's practical implementation of its cloud strategy.

According to Ping, the cloud alliance will comprise of vendors from different countries so that together they can provide global cloud services. This means building a global cloud network that will include telco partners that have established trust with customers.

The fact that different countries have very different infrastructural requirements in order to serve customers means there is a need to form these partnerships, said Ping.

"Because of the economies of scale, it is impossible to have too many public service companies in the world, and on the other hand, it is a data sovereignty requirement. With such constraints, it is impossible for one or two companies to meet all those requirements to take up the entire business of data transformation, and that is why we think just like the airline alliance there will be a cloud alliance."

Mission-driven

Huawei's concept of a cloud alliance is aligned with its future prospects in the cloud domain. According to its predictions, the company believes there will be five major clouds in the world, one of which will be built by Huawei.

Ping told the audience the idea of only five major global cloud vendors originates from Thomas Watson's theory that the world market can only accommodate five computer vendors, despite the fact that he never specified which vendors those would be. It is for this reason Huawei believes it has a significant role to play in building one of its predicted five major world clouds.

Ping pointed out that his company will build a global cloud network based on its own public clouds, as well as clouds it has built together with partners.

In the meantime, the company also reiterated its commitment to supporting government and enterprise cloud strategies and to continue investment in cloud platforms that will boost customer business needs.

The rotating CEO said Huawei will build hybrid clouds as it believes these types of solutions are a must for enterprises and governments. The company has also positioned itself to help the digital migration of governments and large enterprises.

The firm says the Huawei cloud builds on its decades of experience in devices, networks, clouds and other digital domains, and is better equipped to achieve synergy between devices and the cloud.

"Moving forward, Huawei will continue leveraging the strengths of its global platform to build an open ecosystem that thrives on shared success," he said.