Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 213 The Cloud Computing Race: Breakthroughs in Operating Systems
“Funding and compensation are not a problem; we can offer higher salaries. Including Professor Zhou, we can offer an extra two million,” Wang Junshan said.

The hardest part of making mobile phones is building the initial hardware team!

This is a breakthrough from 0 to 1.

Zhou Ping is the key to the breakthrough from 0 to 1, and the core of building the future mobile phone R&D team!

Motorola's market share has been steadily declining, and it is about to be split up and sold off, which presents an opportunity for the mobile phone industry to poach talent!

Tang Jinghe nodded: "Professor Zhou has made many contributions to Motorola over the years, so his annual salary should be quite high. However, Motorola has been declining in recent years, and I estimate that his salary has not increased much for the past two or three years, or even decreased. His total annual salary is only around 30 US dollars."

$30 or 200 million RMB was not a low amount in 2009.

Motorola, in particular, whose business has been declining year after year, cannot continue to raise salaries every year when its mobile phone business is about to collapse.

“Then let’s double his salary, offer him an annual salary of 400 million, or even 500 million! Based on a model of 300 million base salary + 200 million performance bonus.”

"As long as the mobile phones perform well in the future and sales are high, a performance bonus of 200 million or even 300 million is acceptable!"

Tang Jinghe strongly agreed: "This is a good idea. The base salary of 300 million has already exceeded Motorola's current total annual salary package. Professor Zhou is guaranteed to make a profit by coming to Future Technology."

"A performance bonus of 200 million yuan directly doubles his income. His compensation is basically in place. My only concern is that Professor Zhou might be reluctant to give up his position and influence at Motorola, after all these years..."

Wang Junshan nodded: "Let's make contact first and give it a try."

"We should also consider Nokia's domestic R&D centers. We should poach as many engineers as we can. We can't have too many, we just can't have enough!"

Wang Junshan knew that making mobile phones, even those using the Android system and assembling them, required a research and development team of hundreds of people.

If future mobile phones start from scratch and even the operating system is developed in-house, then even more engineers will be needed.

Eight hundred people would not be an exaggeration.

After all, the development of the system alone requires five hundred engineers!
And going forward, mobile phone hardware development will require a continuous stream of new hires and additional staff.

“Okay, Chairman, I’ve also been in contact with Nokia, but it’s much more difficult.”

Wang Junshan nodded: "That's true. Nokia was still number one in the world these past two years. But things will be different in another two years. Motorola is a good entry point."

"Go ahead and do it. Also, you should contact Zhou Ping first. If it really doesn't work, I'll handle it myself."

In his previous life, Lei Jun made several trips to persuade Zhou Ping to come out of seclusion.

If Tang Jinghe can't resolve the issue, Wang Junshan will have to step in personally for the sake of future mobile phone research and development and mass production.

Such a top talent not only possesses advanced technology but also brings Motorola's R&D team, making him absolutely worthwhile!

“Okay,” Tang Jinghe replied, and quickly contacted Zhou Ping to personally intervene.

She knew that the future operating system had been under development for more than four months and had achieved certain breakthroughs.

Next, it's time to fully advance the research and development of mobile phone hardware!
Only in this way can we achieve mass production and even launch of mobile phones by the end of the year!

Alibaba headquarters.

Wang Jian asked with some concern, "What does Chairman Ma mean by this?"

"Before we came here, we made it clear that we were optimistic about cloud computing. Alibaba was going all in on cloud computing, investing 1 billion yuan every year for ten consecutive years."

"I've been working here for almost half a year now, and 2008 is already over, but I haven't seen a single 1 billion yuan."

"Is he just making empty promises to me?"

Wang Jian panicked a little.

As Wang Junshan predicted, Alibaba's cloud computing development has encountered many twists and turns.

Chief architect Wang Jian was quite helpless about this.

Liu Xin, a trusted confidant brought from Microsoft, was also somewhat unsure and offered words of comfort:

"It's probably due to the impact of the financial crisis that Alibaba's financial situation is not very optimistic. After all, one billion is no small amount."

Wang Jian scoffed, "It's the financial crisis again!"

“When I joined the company last year, I proposed to start a cloud computing project, but they used the financial crisis and tight funding as an excuse to avoid it.”

"Are they still doing this now?"

"If the financial crisis doesn't stop, Alibaba Cloud Computing won't be able to start, right?"

"This..." Liu Xin also fell silent.

But I always felt that this possibility was very high.

Alibaba, in particular, is currently not only the company most affected by the financial crisis, but is also being squeezed from both sides by Vipshop and Ubiquitous, resulting in a sharp decline in market share and a plunge in profits.

This makes the prospect of cloud computing even more distant.

Wang Jian had submitted several petitions to the emperor, but to no avail.

Wang Jian was quite helpless about this: "We can't wait any longer. If we wait any longer, cloud computing won't be able to start this year, and it won't be able to start next year either!"

"China's cloud computing is already 7 years behind Amazon. If we don't catch up quickly, we will fall further behind."

"No, I need to go and talk to Chairman Ma."

"Director, should we try a more tactful approach? Chairman Ma has been quite agitated lately because of Vipshop's aggressive tactics," Liu Xin couldn't help but suggest.

Wang Jian waved his hand: "Our tact will only get us excuses. Serious illness requires strong medicine; we can't wait!"

After speaking, Wang Jian opened the safe, took out his own "Alibaba Cloud Computing Strategic Plan," and walked towards Jack Ma's office.

Jack Ma was somewhat surprised to see Wang Jian arrive, and then quickly stood up: "Please sit down, Director Wang."

Jack Ma admired and supported Wang Jian, but also felt somewhat guilty.

We agreed on full authorization and support, one billion annually...

But so far, nothing has been delivered.

"Chairman Ma, you invited me to join Alibaba and asked me to leave Microsoft Research Asia to serve as the chief architect, all for the development of Alibaba Cloud Computing!"

"But almost half a year has passed, and the project hasn't been approved or started. The pace is too slow!"

Jack Ma nodded, looking quite troubled:
"Director Wang, I am also very optimistic about cloud computing and fully support it. However, Alibaba's current situation is quite difficult."

"If Vipshop hadn't relentlessly attacked us, Alibaba would have only had to bear the brunt of the financial crisis, which would have been better."

"But now, the overall environment is tough, and Vipshop is making crazy moves. We at Alibaba are really...sigh!"

With a sigh, he said helplessly, "Director Wang, don't worry, as soon as we get through this, I will immediately launch the Alibaba Cloud Computing project and invest one billion yuan!"

Wang Jian's lips twitched: "..."

How familiar those words are!

As early as last October at an internal Alibaba meeting, Wang Jian proposed the idea that "cloud computing is Alibaba's core infrastructure for the future" and promoted the "de-IOE" plan, fully launching the cloud computing strategy.

But nobody supported it, nobody believed it.

They all used the financial crisis and the impact of Vipshop as excuses to delay.

It dragged on for four or five months!

"Chairman Ma, time waits for no one."

"Amazon began exploring and developing cloud computing in 2002. In 2006, AWS was officially launched. After years of development, AWS has matured and become increasingly powerful. Facts have proven that this is the right and promising path." "If we start developing now and go all in on Alibaba Cloud, we will only be seven years behind. We have every hope of growing into one of the world's top three cloud computing giants within five years, and Alibaba's future development will no longer face any bottlenecks."

"But if we don't invest funds now and catch up as soon as possible, and then launch the Alibaba Cloud project a few years later, the gap will be widened to more than 10 years."

"By then, it will be difficult to catch up."

"Moreover, considering Alibaba's current business growth, it simply cannot be sustained without cloud computing five years from now. Under the traditional IOE architecture, no matter how many servers there are, they cannot support it!"

"If the traffic surges and the servers are overwhelmed, then Alibaba will be in trouble..."

He only said half of what he was going to say, but Jack Ma's expression turned very ugly: "This is also my biggest worry."

"Chairman Ma, whether it's to catch up with Amazon AWS or for Alibaba's future development, cloud computing is indispensable."

Wang Jian handed over his report: "This is my comprehensive plan for Alibaba Cloud computing. Chairman Ma, please take a look."

"The Alibaba Cloud Computing Strategic Plan!" Jack Ma glanced at it, his gaze becoming very serious, and he immediately began to carefully read through it.

"Data is a core means of production and the next focus of competition."

"Alibaba possesses a vast amount of e-commerce transaction data, which is of immeasurable value, but its computing power is about to reach a bottleneck."

"The traditional IOE architecture, which relies on IBM minicomputers, Oracle databases, and EMC storage devices, has poor scalability, high costs, and a low ceiling, making it unsuitable to support Alibaba's future growth into a trillion-dollar giant!"

"Computing power should be like electricity, becoming a public service that is available on demand and paid for based on usage."

"Alibaba Cloud Computing aims to become the State Grid of the computing power field. It can not only provide sufficient computing power within our group, but also export computing power to external parties for commercial monetization."

"If Alibaba does not master its own controllable cloud computing technology, it will have to purchase computing power from foreign giants such as Amazon, which will leave it vulnerable and unable to cope with sudden bottlenecks!"

"..."

"The development path will be implemented in three steps."

"In 2009-2010, we acquired Wanwang, integrated Wanwang's resources, saved three years of cloud computing infrastructure construction time, and assembled top engineers for internal problem-solving and trial use."

"From 2011 to 2013, the group completely abandoned IOE (IBM, Oracle, EMC) and moved all data to Alibaba Cloud."

"From 2014 onwards, Alibaba Cloud will open up to the outside world, providing computing power services through paid services, and will become one of the top three cloud computing giants in the world and the number one cloud computing giant in China."

"To this end, we have invested one billion yuan annually, providing the highest strategic support from the entire group!"

After reading it, Jack Ma was deeply shaken.

This report is practical and well-founded.

Even the development strategies, routes, and methods of the giants are clearly understood.

In the first phase, the acquisition of Wanwang directly saved three years of infrastructure construction time, which Jack Ma praised highly.

The gap with Amazon AWS was originally seven years, but this will reduce the gap to four years.

That's an absolutely brilliant idea.

The subsequent strategies were also quite remarkable.

Jack Ma was so excited that he couldn't wait to make the decision and immediately launch the Alibaba Cloud computing project!

But ideals are just ideals.

The cold reality extinguished Jack Ma's passion.

"Director Wang, your strategic plan is very well done, excellent. I fully support it."

"But as you know, Alibaba isn't something I can control alone."

"Especially at this critical juncture."

Upon hearing this, Wang Jian's expression turned grim: "Do we have to keep dragging this out? If Alibaba misses this opportunity, the consequences will be dire!"

Jack Ma nodded: "I know, and I fully support it. But this is no small matter. One billion a year is a huge sum for Alibaba right now."

"In that case, at the board meeting five days from now, if the resolution is that Alibaba will provide funding to support Best Logistics' acquisition of Huitong Express, you should also submit a proposal to include Alibaba's cloud computing project, and we will vote on it. At that time, I will fully support you."

“Okay, Chairman, that’s the only way!” Wang Jian’s eyes lit up.

According to Wang Jian and Jack Ma's original plan, Wang Jian left Microsoft Research Asia to join Alibaba in September last year, and the cloud computing project was launched immediately.

At that time, Alibaba also had money, and the situation was very promising.

Before the project was even officially launched, the global financial crisis hit, and cloud computing had to be postponed, which is why it's been delayed until now!

But now things are looking up, the opportunity has arrived.

With Jack Ma's full support, plus the support of some visionary shareholders, this deal might become 40% likely.

If I do a better job on my report then, it might get approved.

In this way, the Alibaba Cloud Computing project can be officially approved and launched quickly.

Even though it's six months later than expected, it's still not bad.

To this end, Academician Wang Jian went into seclusion to refine his proposal, aiming to make it more successful, persuasive, and gain more support.

In just two days, Academician Wang Jian had already prepared a proposal. To increase his chances of success, he took the proposal and began to travel around trying to persuade Alibaba's major shareholders.

Unfortunately, the major shareholders don't seem to be very interested in this.

They either give you a perfunctory welcome or simply avoid you altogether.

This left Wang Jian feeling quite helpless.

On the other hand, Cui Qian's negotiations with Wanwang are progressing very smoothly.

Unfortunately, with the financial crisis making Wanwang's IPO seem a distant prospect, selling itself to Future Technology became the best option.

Most importantly, even if the boss doesn't want to sell, the employees and the core R&D team are all tempted.

Everyone knows that following future technologies is clearly a more promising path.

This left Mr. Zhang, the general manager of Wanwang, feeling quite helpless.

However, Wang Junshan didn't pay much attention to these things.

Instead, Wang Junshan returned to the Future OS R&D department.

Every time I come, there are many new faces.

After nearly five months of development, the number of engineers in the Future OS department has exceeded 500!
It is the department with the most engineers in the entire future technology field, without exception, and it is also the department with the highest expenditure.

But Wang Junshan didn't care at all, and instead let Tang Jinghe continue to poach and add people.

The reason Android has been around for so many years is because the team is small and has few people.

Between 2003 and 2005, the team consisted of fewer than ten people.

It was only after being acquired by Google in the second half of 2005 that the team grew to 50 people.

It wasn't until it was open-sourced and launched in 2008 that the team grew to 150-200 people.

This year, Android began building its ecosystem and iterating rapidly. The number of users will grow to 500 in the future and over 1,000 next year.

But the future operating system is different. In order to save time, Wang Junshan had Tang Jinghe recruit people like crazy from the very beginning.

(End of this chapter)