Cloud Computing Standardization Initiatives in China: Economic and institutional considerations

1
Cloud Computing Standardization Initiatives in
China Economic and institutional considerations
ITU Regional Workshop on Bridging the
Standardization Gap (Yangon, Myanmar, 28-29
November 2013)

• Nir Kshetri
• Professor, The University of North
  CarolinaGreensboro
• nbkshetr_at_uncg.edu

2
Cloud Standards in China

• CCID Consulting (2010) Cloud standards and cloud
  security urgent issues facing Chinese cloud
  industry
• not unique to China.
• Cloud standards infant stage.
• A lack of standards difficult to regulate the
  development.
• Technical standards, service standards and
  standards of quality assurance of public, private
  and mixed cloud

3
Chinas International Initiatives Related to
Cloud Standards

• 2011 China Life and China Unicom--Steering
  Committee of Open Data Center Alliance
• an independent consortium .. aimed at providing
  a unified vision for long term data center
  requirements
• Other Chinese members
• China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation
• China Telecom
• Beijing China Power Information Technology

4
DMTF and CESI partnership

• Jul. 2012 Distributed Management Task Force
  (DMTF), and China Electronics Standardization
  Institute (CESI) adoption of DMTF standards.
• DMTF to make standards meet requirements outlined
  by CESI.
• CESI encourage Chinese companies/ univ. and
  non-profit orgs to adopt DMTF standards
• Cloud Infrastructure Management Interface (CIMI)
• Open Virtualization Format (OVF)
• DMTF standards for Cloud auditing and software
  license management

5
Lesson from Past IT Initiatives

• Chinas healthcare industry Information
  Island.
• Many large hospitals completed initial IT
  initiatives in the mid-2000s
• fragmentation and incompatibility of information
  systems between departments
• inability to communicate and share data.
• A reason for the slow diffusion of EMR lack of a
  single standard.

6
Definition of Cloud-related Concepts

• Chinese Communications Standards Association
  (CCSA)
• Most parts in NIST definition accepted
• Technical reference materials for virtualization,
  cloud security, cloud storage and others
  developed by
• DMTS
• Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)
• Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)
• ITU

7
Definition of Cloud-related Concepts

• MIITs Telecommunications Research Institute The
  removal of on-demand self-service as a
  characteristic
• Possibility of additional layer of mgmt/control.
• Extra technical requirements for businesses.
• Different from the NIST definition-three
  deployment models (public, private, and hybrid)
• No community cloud shared by multiple
  organizations with shared missions
• Distributed computing resources like CC employed
  in Chinese scientific research community.

8
(No Transcript)
9
Kshetri, Palvia and Dai (2011).
10
The States Involvement in the Economy

• China-specific standards requirements even if not
  adopted or mandated
• Likely to be enforced for municipal/ provincial
  government contracts
• Governments entrenchment in the economy
• Large/important segment of the Chinese market

11
Lack of Clear Regulations/Transparency

• Major concerns for businesses lack of clear
  government standards/regulations and data privacy
  concerns
• Uncertainty regulations evolution without
  transparency/outside input
• Some degree of foreign participation in
• CESI
• NITSTC SOA
• CCSA standards groups
• Often not as full voting members.

12
Lack of Clear Regulations/Transparency

• Some groups under NITSTC no foreign companies
  participation even as observers
• In industry groups that allow foreign
  participation
• Degree of influence low/uncertain
• Low degree of transparency/ impartiality compared
  to the development of most international cloud
  computing standards.

13
Strength of Nationalism

• 1970s, the CCP standardization to quickly
  build a socialist economy .to ensure quality,
  advance performance
• Since1980s attempts to develop
• Chinese computer OS CCDOS
• Database management system
• Network communication system
• Middleware products.
• 1990s Aggressive actions in DVD and CD standards
• Chinese cloud policies create indigenous
  innovation requirements for domestic sales
• protect Chinese enterprises from foreign
  competition.

14
Perception of National Security and Economic
Threat

• Chinese officials/ Chinese business leaders
• Highly confidential data about the Chinese
  economy, military, and government, as well as
  crucial technology and science developments, can
  be stolen or accidentally disclosed to foreign
  competitors, or end up in the hands of groups or
  individuals who seek to overturn the national
  government.
• L. Ann Ragland, J. McReynolds, M. Southerland
  J. Mulvenon. Red Cloud Rising Cloud Computing in
  China, Research Report Prepared on Behalf of the
  U.S.-China Economic and Security Review
  Commission, September 5, 2013

15
Discussion and Implications

• Chinas attempt to create domestic standards in
  many other ICT industries
• Lesson from largely unsuccessful initiatives in
  the past (e.g., CCDOS in 1982).
• Lack of mature technological capabilities/
  technical standards/requirements to drive
  technology development.
• MIIT 2012 slow development of cloud computing
  standards
• lack of participation of mainstream cloud
  providers.

16
Discussion and Implications

• Distrust of foreign providers
• Complaint regarding protectionist measures
  hamper foreign participation
• Foreign corporations increase in cost
• Extra technical requirements may reduce foreign
  firms competitiveness
• Adapt products to China-specific standards
• Requirement to custom-design for China

17
Conclusions and Recommendations

• A complex interaction of economic and
  institutional factors in play
• Tricky trade off for the Chinese regulators
• Many challenges confronting domestic and foreign
  companies
• Offers a number of relevant lessonsfor the cloud
  standardization initiatives for other developing
  countries.