Taiwan’s cloud computing industry could be driven by the nation’s competitive advantages resulting from its geographic location, undersea cable construction and hardware manufacturing capability, an industry analyst said yesterday.
However, the government should focus more on improving the value of the industry because the country currently relies heavily on providing ODM server services, which provide marginal profits, said Barry Chen (陳學智), president of global virtualization and cloud infrastructure services at VMware Inc.
Instead of looking for ways to lower electricity prices and facility management costs, the government and companies should cooperate to develop new platforms to provide integrated services via cloud computing technologies with an aim to increasing the country’s competitiveness, Chen said.
For example, the Shanghai Stock Exchange center has vigorously promoted these technologies, with the hope of becoming the world’s largest center of its kind within 10 years, Chen said.
Airlines are adopting cloud computing technologies to provide customized services, which is an indicator of future trends for the logistics and financial sectors, he said.
Chen said that although Taiwan has a natural geographical advantage, the government should introduce policies designed to lure foreign investors, adding that investors often choose Singapore as a service hub rather than Taiwan.
Minister without Portfolio Simon Chang (張善政), a former Google Inc executive, said earlier this month that he would focus on the upgrade of the nation’s information technology and communications industry.
Chang said he would assist the promotion of cloud computing technologies throughout Taiwan, adding that such technologies could also be used for education, medical services, healthcare and other services to reduce public grievances and win greater public trust in the government’s administrative abilities.
However, Acer Inc (宏碁) chairman J.T. Wang (王振堂) said on Friday he disapproved of the government’s policy to encourage businesses to establish cloud-based data centers through out the nation.
Wang said cloud-based data centers usually consume large amounts of electricity, have high levels of carbon emissions and do not help promote the development of the cloud computing industry.
It is more important to develop cloud-based applications that meet people’s every day needs, Wang said.
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