Peeking into the crystal ball: Future of Internet

Chen Liming, vice-president of IBM Global and chairman of IBM Greater China

Cloud computing is nothing like a race. We should look into the industry from a higher perspective and create an ecosystem which will bring benefits for all. Cloud-computing technologies should be applied in the daily management of cities to avoid deadly disasters.

AT&T worked with Mueller Water Products to install acoustic sensors in water pipes and used IBM's cloud computing technology to do data analysis to monitor the pipes and find problems in advance.

If that sort of technology can be widely applied to urban management, those tragic explosions in Tianjin and Qingdao might have been avoided, butcurrently many companies are not aware of big data and cloud computing's technological advantages, making it difficult for the technology to do what it can.

Shi Lirong, president of ZTE Corp

One of the reasons why big firms have not embraced cloud technologies is due to the security vulnerabilities. To address this, cloud-computing providers must come out with business models for various companies, including large, small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals.

Luo Dongping, CEO and co-founder of Hillstone Networks

As more companies move their business to the cloud, cloud computing is becoming a compelling trend. Innovation and technological transformation are critical in tackling the network security issues that face us today. All-dimensional visualization is another critical element of future network security solutions.

Liu Duo, vice-president of China Academy of Information and Communication Technology

The compound annual growth rate of cloud computing industry in China was about 35 percent, and it is expected to reach 46 percent this year, with the market size exceeding 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion).

China’s top economic planner issued the guidance on cloud computing development on January 30 this year. Governmental departments have joined hands with third-party organizations to enhance supervision and information disclosure.

Rong Yongkang, vice-president of Amazon Web Services

Software and hardware providers in China are investing huge to extend their services to the cloud computing sector... They have invested 5 billion yuan ($771 million) into the sector, with a profit margin of 20 percent by the end of 2015. It is still at an early stage, but serves as a 'new normal’ in global IT industry.