Veteran internet company shapes future of digital telecom sector

AsiaInfo, the world's leading software provider for telecommunication operators, is expected to steal the limelight at the World Internet Conference from Nov 16 to 18, due to the company executives' presence as keynote speakers, market insiders said.

The forecast is based on the impressive development of the Beijing-based multinational company and its future-shaping moves in recent years.

AsiaInfo stood out as the first Chinese high-tech company to be listed on the US Nasdaq Stock Market as early as 2000.

The move originally raised eyebrows throughout the world's internet sector, and its success confirmed the strategic foresight of the company's co-founder, Edward Tian, in the early days of China's internet sector.

The creative Tian is still considered the chief architect of the emergence of the internet in China, and his in-depth advice and suggestions are still taking the lead in building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace, which is advocated by the think tanks taking part in the World Internet Conference.

AsiaInfo has helped develop the industry for over two decades, not only providing strong technical support for the rapid development of China's communication industry, but also providing a precise and swift billing service, a customer management service and an e-commercial platform for 1.3 billion users.

The company serves more than 1 billion users each day, processes over 100,000 telephone calls a second, 7 petabytes of data a day and 6 billion transaction records each day.

Working such large amounts of data for two decades has equipped AsiaInfo with world-class, real-time and precise research, development and ability to deliver large-scale software systems in telecommunications, billing, customer management, customer service and commercial platforms.

Besides, at a Glotel Global Telecommunication Union event early this month, AsiaInfo was awarded the BSS Transformation Excellence Award for its Denmark Telenor BSS project.

The Glotel union is known for its focus on innovation in the global telecommunication industry.

Its awards are judged annually by technology leaders, senior managers and industry analysts of major global operators and communication service enterprises, and therefore represent high recognition for innovation and excellence.

Jin Yadong, the chief technology officer of AsiaInfo Group and CEO of AsiaInfo International, said: "The award was recommended by our client Telenor. Our Telenor project is one where AsiaInfo International will open a European telecommunication market.

"AsiaInfo International boasts technological strength through serving China's telecommunication operators for over two decades, excellent customer service and spirit of pioneering and innovation. It combines Eastern and Western practice and innovation, and provides a brand-new digital experience for European users."

Commercial innovation driven by global technological advances are also forging ahead.

Major global economic entities are speeding up deploying innovative technologies, such as Germany's Industry 4.0 strategy, the European Union's Europe 2020 Strategy, and China's Internet Plus.

Although AsiaInfo is a traditional software company, innovation genes inside the organization drive it to continuously explore new technology, Tian said.

With the development of cloud computing, big data, the internet of things and artificial intelligence, AsiaInfo believes that industries and companies will function more and more like "customer operators".

As well as focusing on user experience, enterprises also need to provide multiple situation billing and scene billing models, which means that enterprises can have faster, more effective and intelligent billing ability as well as customer operation management service ability.

"This was always the core advantage of AsiaInfo - as the enabler of customer operation support systems," Tian said.

According to Tian, relying on long-term accumulation of technology research and development, AsiaInfo has also made great progress in big data and network security, and therefore contributing to the development of China industrial internet.

Big data

AsiaInfo Data, its big data arm, has partnered with the local governments of Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, and Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, to explore big data transaction models and facilitate a socialization process of data.

Other than keeping the leading position in the telecommunication industry, AsiaInfo has cooperated with nearly 100 institutes in the fields of government, healthcare, transport, insurance, public security, banking and new media.

It provides innovative application of big data in the fields of targeted poverty alleviation, smart healthcare, location information operation, information for public benefit, government administration data and traffic control, adding new services to smart cities.

"AsiaInfo Data is exploring a new model of poverty alleviation for China," said Zhang Hao, president of AsiaInfo Data. "The model relies on big data in regional poverty alleviation and realizes integration, convergence, opening and sharing of poverty alleviation data and resources on platforms."

Meanwhile, the company administers the poverty-stricken areas and accumulates poverty alleviation data through the internet, especially mobile internet technology, and through such media as smartphones and assists governments in formulating macro-policy and realizing poverty reduction and relief with big data.

The model has been put into practice in some areas, such as Northwest China's Gansu province, Southwest China's Guizhou province and South China's island province of Hainan.

Security guarantee

In the field of security guarantee in building the Community of Common Future in Cyberspace, AsiaInfo Security also looks after the security of the nation's industrial network.

AsiaInfo Security president He Zheng said: "When planning the earliest internet in China in 1995, AsiaInfo started to provide planning and integration services for customers' network security.

"Through purchasing Trend Micro (China) in 2015, the company has mastered defense technology against the highest-level network threats and has developed a top-level research and development team.

"At present, AsiaInfo Security has formed an end-to-end industrial network security system and built a reliable chain from terminal to cloud."

AsiaInfo expects complete success at the third World Internet Conference, and will also adhere to its mission of innovation, working for the development of China's industrial network and the greater prosperity of AsiaInfo.

(China Daily 11/16/2016 page14)