With four strategic upgrades in one year, what kind of cloud does Baidu want to build?

Qian Ming from Aofei Temple
Quantum Bit Report | Public Account QbitAI

In the past year, Baidu Smart Cloud has carried out four strategic upgrades, which are not only related to strategic positioning, but also to organizational structure.

Every upgrade will increase people's curiosity about it:

What kind of cloud is Baidu Smart Cloud?

Obviously, the name "Smart Cloud" has already determined that if we only look at Baidu Smart Cloud from the perspective of cloud computing, it is difficult to capture the full picture.

So how do you view Baidu Smart Cloud?

If you pay attention to the progress of technology companies in fighting the epidemic and the impact of new infrastructure, you may have a deeper understanding of Baidu Smart Cloud.

In the fight against the epidemic: Cloud + AI is the ultimate solution

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, what has impressed people most about technology companies is not how much money or masks they have donated, but that they have actually brought their technical solutions and invested in the real battle against the epidemic.

For example, AI medical CT image diagnosis, intelligent infrared temperature measurement, intelligent mask recognition, self-service diagnosis screening, intelligent outbound calls and other services have played an important role in the fight against the epidemic.

Moreover, these technologies are not just deployed in one place. Once the technical solutions are proven to be effective, they can be quickly promoted across the country and even around the world.

For example, Baidu has deployed an intelligent outbound call platform, which has made more than 3 million outbound calls nationwide; its AI temperature measurement system has been completed across the country in many scenarios including transportation hubs, administrative agencies, medical institutions, corporate offices and residential communities. As of the end of February, it has completed more than 7 million rapid temperature checks across the country.

Perhaps you already know that the reason why these technical solutions can be quickly rolled out across the country is due to the capabilities of cloud computing - the ability to break through geographical restrictions, share software and hardware resources and information, and provide them to various computer terminals and other devices on demand.

But in this nationwide mobilization, cloud computing has not received much attention. Is it unimportant? Obviously not, it played a vital role in the rapid fight against the epidemic. But specifically in the fight against the epidemic, the ability to carry data on the cloud is the key to directly solving the needs in the end.

So the more direct result is that the cloud has become a spring breeze and integrated into the solution. More and more industries are becoming digital and intelligent, and they need not only cloud services, but also services on the cloud.

Therefore, Cloud + AI has always been the focus of Baidu's efforts in cloud services. In recent years, it has gradually become the mainstream development trend of the industry. The most direct reflection is in the names: Baidu is "Intelligent Cloud", Alibaba is "Cloud Intelligence", and Huawei is "Cloud & AI".

It is also reflected in the arrangement of the helmsmen. For example, Scott Guthrie, the head of Microsoft Azure, is the father of the programming language ASP.NET; Thomas Kurian, the helmsman of Google Cloud, is an engineer; many heads of Alibaba Cloud are from a technical background, and so on.

Cloud is originally a technology-driven business. Now the focus of cloud services is gradually shifting towards cloud services, which require deeper support from technologies such as AI. Collaboration and cooperation has become inevitable, and letting CTO or people with technical backgrounds lead the business has become a common trend in the industry.

Through these, it is not difficult to understand why Baidu Smart Cloud has been adjusted again and again, and finally chose to integrate with the artificial intelligence technology system - from the organizational structure, the integration of AI + cloud is realized, which is all under the responsibility of Baidu CTO Wang Haifeng.

This is not only to further reduce communication costs, but also to make AI and cloud more coordinated and actionable in the process of promoting the development of intelligent cloud.

What is more noteworthy is that in the process of developing its capabilities, Baidu Smart Cloud has further combined cloud + AI with specific scenarios.

For example, solutions in the areas of smart government affairs, smart healthcare, smart finance, smart customer service and marketing. In January this year, Baidu Smart Cloud identified these four core tracks. During the anti-epidemic process, they were further rapidly deployed and applied, which also confirmed the effectiveness of this strategic direction.

At the same time, this is also one of Baidu's core footholds to seize the dividends of post-epidemic economic recovery and new infrastructure.

New infrastructure is ahead, and we need to use cloud + AI to seize the dividends

Now that the epidemic is under control, resuming work and production and restoring economic growth have become new themes. As the central government has intensively issued relevant policies, various provinces and cities have successively released key construction projects for 2020. The "new infrastructure" that focuses on infrastructure construction on the technological side is widely regarded as the core responsibility.

Many economists and industry analysts believe that "new infrastructure" will play an important role in hedging against economic downturn and promoting economic transformation and upgrading.

Compared with traditional infrastructure, "new infrastructure" mainly includes seven major areas: 5G base station construction, ultra-high voltage, intercity high-speed railways and urban rail transit, new energy vehicle charging piles, big data centers, artificial intelligence, and industrial Internet.

One signal worth noting is that cloud computing is not mentioned in the new infrastructure. Is cloud computing not important? No, just like in the fight against the epidemic, it has become the default option.

What is more prominent is AI, the Internet of Things, big data centers, 5G, etc., which require cloud services to provide support. This confirms the current focus of major cloud vendors: the further significance of cloud lies in unleashing intelligence.

Baidu Smart Cloud, which has been committed to this, has received feedback from the market.

According to the latest report on China's basic cloud service market in the fourth quarter of 2019 released by British research firm Canalys, Baidu Smart Cloud's market share rose one place compared with the previous quarter, officially ranking among the top three. What is more noteworthy is the year-on-year growth rate of revenue - as high as 97.9%, ranking first in the Chinese market.

This also shows that Baidu Smart Cloud's strategy of using AI as a means of differentiated competition has been effective. Baidu Smart Cloud, which continues to upgrade its architecture, is gaining more room for growth by strengthening the integration of AI + cloud.

Now that the new infrastructure is ahead, Baidu Smart Cloud has undoubtedly waited for the opportunity after years of accumulation.

Wang Haifeng bluntly stated that Baidu is not only a builder of AI infrastructure, but also a leader and promoter of AI technology and application innovation, and is helping the country's social development achieve simultaneous improvement in economic and social benefits.

Where does Baidu Smart Cloud want to go?

So what kind of cloud does Baidu Smart Cloud want to be? Under the epidemic and before the new infrastructure construction, the answer has become increasingly clear:

AI technology has entered the stage of large-scale industrial production. As a carrier, smart cloud can promote the implementation of AI and accelerate the process of industrial intelligence.

When releasing the fourth quarter 2019 financial report, Robin Li issued an internal letter saying that the past 2019 was a critical year of change for Baidu.

This is especially true for Baidu Smart Cloud. However, it is through these adjustments that Baidu Smart Cloud's development strategy has become clearer.

It can be seen that through these adjustments, the strategic position of Intelligent Cloud within Baidu has been further enhanced, the advantageous track has become clearer, and the intention to collaborate with the technical middle platform is obvious.

Especially the most recent adjustment, which is to implement flat management and improve organizational efficiency to accelerate the development of Baidu Smart Cloud.

2020 had a bad start. In order to find business growth points, cloud services that carry unlimited growth space in the enterprise market have naturally become the focus of pursuit by all players. The subsequent war will only become more intense.

What is certain is that Baidu Smart Cloud is ready for this kind of competition.