Data Center World: is it worth it to go?

Hello! My name is Nikita, I work in the ISPsystem as a business development manager. We recently flew to Hong Kong for the Data Center World (DCW) exhibition on the data center and IT industry. Under the cut I will tell you how it was and whether it makes sense to go there.



Data Center World in Hong Kong is one of the largest Asian conferences dedicated to the field of data centers and IT technologies (not to be confused with Data Cent World, these are different events). DCW is held annually in several points of the world with a difference of approximately one month: Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Frankfurt, Paris. The next Data Center World will be held in Singapore on October 10–11.

Our goals and impressions

Over the past year, this is the second Data Center World conference for the ISPsystem, in 2017 we were in Singapore. If we compare in size and sensations, the conferences in Hong Kong and Singapore are about the same in scale as well as in topics and company representatives.

We develop software for hosting and data centers . We went to DCW to talk with current and potential customers, visit interesting booths, listen to reports and get acquainted with the local market. All this was done. Plus talked to other software developers: Sunbird, Schneider Electric, VMware.

Of the interesting: confirmed the hypothesis that Hong Kong may be the "gateway to China." The Chinese market is quite closed, and there are many difficulties in terms of the introduction of foreign software on its territory. Such as:

• providing partial access to the code of your software to the Chinese authorities,
• full localization of the product with local support,
• promotion in the market, where, most likely, there is already your absolute equivalent, which is used by the whole country.

DCW in Hong Kong can provide access to large Chinese companies that are open to cooperation and know the rules of the game in their market. Chinese giants were represented at DCW: Alibaba Cloud, China Unicom, China Telecom, China Mobile.

We talked with a couple of dozen companies and learned what they use for automation. Half apply third-party ready-made solutions, half contain a staff of programmers and create solutions for themselves. One provider told me that he still processes services in Excel.

How is the conference going

Visitors and members

In 2017, the exhibition was visited by almost 9,000 people. The main visitors of the conference: managers, engineers and heads of IT-companies. Given such attendance, the exhibition is a good opportunity to meet and talk with interesting people from the data center industry.

Most often hosting providers, data centers, hardware and software manufacturers are exhibiting here. Compared to other near-hosting conferences, such as CloudFest (ex. WorldHostingDays) and HostingCon (closed last year), DCW has a strong focus on the data center industry. Although classic domain users and hosters such as Gandi, ReadySpace, RackSpace, UDomain, DataPlugs are also exhibited here. I feel that the biggest booths were at Alibaba Cloud, Google Cloud, Vertiv, AWS, China Unicom, China Telecom.

Reports

The exhibition was divided into five zones: data centers, clouds and cybersecurity, Asian cloud companies, big data, the Internet of things. The division is conditional and is designed to attract a larger audience. As planned by the organizers, there should have been five different conferences in one congress hall, but one turned out to be big with five subzones.

We went around the whole exhibition and talked with companies from different fields, although we were primarily interested in hosting and data center providers. Up to four reports were held simultaneously in different zones, in total there were more than 100 reports and various panel discussions per day, so there was something to choose from.

Popular topics are the same as in Europe and the USA: energy efficiency and security of DC, clouds, machine learning and Big Data, cryptocurrency and blockchain, GDPR (despite the fact that this is Asia, the law applies to them). Some of the reports:

1. The Quartet with the instruments of IoT, Blockchain, Big Data and AI
2. Cloud strategies for digital transformation: Why does Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) now become the radar for many?
3. Why Multi-Cloud Infrastructure? And why hybrid cloud technology is the key factor?

All reports were in English, representatives of companies on the stands also spoke this language, so it was not necessary to hire a translator from Chinese.

Business Etiquette

Before the trip, we contacted representatives of companies in Hong Kong. They willingly agreed to meetings both at the exhibition itself and in the city. Even if the proposal was not very interesting to them, they still listened to us and answered "maybe", or "I would like, but I am not sure that now is the right time." Like the Chinese, Hong Kong residents do not like to say “no” directly, so as not to offend. Punctual, do not be late for meetings.

As is known, the exchange of business cards in China is a ritual of business etiquette. To show respect for the interlocutor, it is necessary to perform certain actions:

1. To transfer and accept the business card with two hands, holding the edges and slightly tilting the head while doing so.
2. After receiving the business card, read the information on it, and do not immediately remove it into the back pocket of the pants. Make it clear that you are interested in the interlocutor and hold the card for some time in your hands.
3. Business cards should be exchanged personally with each interlocutor, starting with someone who is older or occupies a higher position.

At business conferences there is a place for warm meetings. In our spare time, we met a friend and partner, technical director of a Hong Kong hosting company that has been using our solutions for several years. We exchanged gifts, he showed us Hong Kong, and also conducted a tour of their data center.


My colleague (left) and partners

Time

The conference was held from May 16 to 17 on the island of Hong Kong. Officially, the opening was at 09:00, closing at 17:30, but after 16:00 there were significantly fewer visitors, and even those who put up stands were already relaxing and started wandering around the hall. So planning a trip to DCW Hong Kong, feel free to schedule meetings after 4:00 pm outside the hall - do not miss anything important.

The cost of travel and impressions of the city

Cost of attendance and travel

Conference attendance is free, participation with a small stand will cost around $ 5000. Flight Moscow - Hong Kong with a transfer in Beijing will cost 30,000 - 40,000 rubles, direct flight - 50,000 rubles. Hotel accommodation cost us 20,000 rubles for two for four days, while we lived within walking distance of the conference hall. The average price for lunch at a cafe or restaurant is 400 and 1,500 rubles, respectively.

What to do in your free time

In Hong Kong, there are many places where you can eat authentic cuisine. There are restaurants with a Michelin star, which serve the famous dim-sans. In one of these institutions, lunch for two cost us 1000 rubles. However, get ready for the queues and the fact that the evening food in such places ends. On the last day, we stumbled upon a Michelin-style restaurant with a Peking duck who did not have a queue. And it was not her because there hung a sign "All the food is over, come tomorrow." If you want to visit the local shops or dine in a non-tourist place, keep in mind that there are almost no cards here.

In the evening, you can just walk around the city, look at the skyscrapers. Believe me, they are worth it. One of these skyscrapers is Hopewell Center, in which there is a transparent elevator and it goes up to the 55th floor. Perhaps the most gorgeous view of Hong Kong opens from here.


Photos from the 55th floor of Hopewell Center

That was the Data Center World in Hong Kong. See you!

PS Soon my colleague will tell you how we are preparing for such conferences. Subscribe to our blog to not miss anything!