More than 50 companies in the local information and communications technology (ICT) and service industries yesterday launched an alliance in a bid to grab a share of the growing cloud computing market.
Cloud computing, which means outsourcing online data storage and applications, will lower companies’ operational costs and reduce systematic risk, Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) chairman Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) said at the inauguration of the Taiwan Cloud Computing Consortium in Taipei.
“Cloud computing is an ongoing revolution in the information industry, “ Lu said. “It makes data management easy, cheap and time-efficient and is also energy-saving and eco-friendly.”
Lu, who heads the new consortium, said Taiwan will be able to boost the production value of its ICT industries by investing in cloud computing.
“Taiwan’s ICT hardware industry will generate an estimated production value of US$366 billion by 2020, while the ICT software industry is forecast to grow from US$20 billion in 2009 to US$50 billion in 2014,” he said.
The share of the software industry in the entire ICT industry is expected to increase from 15 percent to 25 percent during that period, Lu said.
Globally, the production value of the consumer service component of the cloud computing industry would grow from US$38.7 billion in 2008 to US$101.8 billion in 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 26 percent, he said, citing figures compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The output of business applications in the industry is projected to rise from US$59 billion in 2008 to US$213.3 billion in 2012, at a compound annual growth rate of 38 percent, Lu added.
In addition, the output of computing service in the industry would grow by a compound annual rate of 90 percent, increasing from US$3.4 billion in 2008 to US$94.5 billion in 2012, he added.
The consortium is aiming to promote three aspects of cloud computing — infrastructure, platform and software — and will also develop a platform to incorporate energy-saving technologies, Lu said.
The inaugural ceremony showcased cloud computing applications in personalized Internet TV, personal healthcare, education and video conferencing and featured a mobile data center developed by Taiwan’s Inventec Co (英業達).
The center, which looks like a container, can accommodate 576 servers and 1,200 hard drives, said Richard Lee (李詩欽), chairman of the company and deputy head of the consortium.
“It can be used by a company with up to 3,000 employees and can help save 20 percent in costs,” he added.
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