2005 was undoubtedly a year when the domestic server market was filled with smoke. International brands that have always dominated the high-end market, such as IBM, HP and DELL, suddenly made a big move towards the mid- and low-end markets, taking the lead in provoking a price war, burning the war to the third and fourth-level markets, posing huge pressure on domestic brands.
In 2006, domestic server manufacturers represented by Lenovo, Shuguang and Tsinghua Tongfang adopted the strategy of "front defense and high-end breakthrough", which not only maintained rapid growth in the mid- and low-end market and consolidated traditional advantages, but also made strong efforts to attack the mid- and high-end markets that international brands have been entrenched for a long time, forming a counterattack, restraining the front of international manufacturers, playing the effect of "surrounding Wei and saving Zhao", and also made a wonderful move for domestic manufacturers to seek mainstream status in the high-end market.
"Snatching the high-end and popularizing the low-end" became a secret slogan for domestic server manufacturers. Lenovo's internationalization strategy integration has created the era of server popularization; the establishment of Shuguang technology pioneers has broken the door for domestic servers to enter the high-end field; Tsinghua Tongfang's strategy has been released, taking the lead in breaking through the traditional application model of domestic servers and creating a popularization direction for large-scale customized applications of domestic servers. As a result, domestic server manufacturers have gradually "swallowed" the cake of the Chinese server industry with their own different advantages and characteristics.
Customized services become a new market model
As early as 2000, domestic server manufacturers have launched various server products that meet the different user needs and have personalized functions, such as file servers, E-mail servers, Web application servers, load balancing servers, VPN servers, network acceleration servers, NAS servers, etc., in response to the different needs of users, so that the personalized functional server market has rapidly grown and become the most dynamic and innovative market in the server market. According to industry insiders, the market share of domestic IDC will reach a new historical peak in 2006, and the growth of demand for functional servers may exceed the market demand for general servers in the past two or three years. Customized services characterized by "application-oriented and customized for customers" are undoubtedly becoming a new growth point in the server market.
In fact, meeting user customized application needs has become a consensus among server manufacturers. Faced with an increasingly unpredictable market, the traditional application model of server manufacturers based on industry application needs has become increasingly inconsistent with the modern demand user market. It is in this contradiction that a new application model - large-scale popularization customization, Tsinghua Tongfang, a leading PC manufacturer in China, came into being and began to gradually become a new trend in the development of the domestic server industry.
It is no accident that Tsinghua Tongfang can become an advocate for this customized application. In early 2006, Tsinghua Tongfang and international chip manufacturer AMD made its first strategic cooperation, which not only enriched the product line of Tongfang servers, but also provided more product choices for industry users in different fields, further optimized the practical application capabilities of industry users, reduced the overall cost of ownership of TCO, and became the IT manufacturer with the most complete product line in the domestic server field.
The successful cooperation between Tsinghua Tongfang and AMD has laid the foundation for the popularization of applications for the rapid development of China's server industry. In early 2006, after the Tsinghua Tongfang server successfully released its strategy, Tsinghua Tongfang successively launched a number of new server products for the application fields of multiple industries such as Internet cafes, telecommunications, general education, and higher education, providing new application solutions for industry users with different needs. Industry insiders analyzed that Tsinghua Tongfang's multi-product segmentation strategy will drive the server industry toward a new model of customized applications.
The rich product line provides unprecedented historical conditions for Tsinghua Tongfang's customized application, and its strong integration capabilities are another right-hand man for Tsinghua Tongfang to realize customized application. According to the author's understanding, Tsinghua Tongfang is the only server manufacturer among domestic IT manufacturers that uses AMD and INTEL chips at the same time, integrating full "core" applications for multiple product groups such as PC, server, and storage, providing domestic users with customized solutions that are closer to the application environment and characteristics of industry users.
Rich product lines and strong resource integration capabilities are like two sharp "swords" leading Tsinghua Tongfang to become an advocate of customized applications, marking the beginning of maturity of China's server industry.
Large-scale customization subverts traditional business models
Faced with the high degree of homogeneity of server products, what domestic server manufacturers can do is: First, change production methods and establish an implicit, customer-oriented, and restructuring business process; second, establish a new application model. Therefore, the implementation of enterprise reconstruction and process restructuring has almost become the focus of international server manufacturers such as IBM, HP, and DELL. "Our method is to transform customized services from large-scale manufacturing to large-scale customization, and establish a service model that combines high cost-effectiveness, high performance and high applicability, so that users can optimize product performance while also reducing the overall cost of ownership of TCO." Qi Xiangqian, general manager of Tsinghua Tongfang Server Business Department, said.
Compared with the large-scale production we are familiar with, large-scale customization can be said to be a brand new application model. Large-scale customization is to complete the production of customized products based on the special needs of each user, using the benefits of large-scale production, thereby realizing the organic combination of user personalization and large-scale production. It is precisely because it integrates the advantages of large-scale production and multi-variety production that can achieve the purpose of low cost of products and diversification of varieties at the same time that large-scale customization has now changed from a technological frontier to an inevitable trend in one industry after another, and has become an important means of competition for manufacturers.
The deepening of technology will promote the application of the industry, and the popularization of applications will ultimately promote the upgrading of the industry. Industry insiders analyzed that the cooperation between Tsinghua Tongfang server and AMD advocates customized applications. On the one hand, it will further enrich Tsinghua Tongfang's product line, improve the energy-saving, cost-effective, safe and stable characteristics of the products, and achieve more subdivided products, thereby providing industry users with more choices and further meeting user needs; on the other hand, Tsinghua Tongfang hopes to cooperate with upstream manufacturers, use its strength and local advantages to integrate the advanced technologies and products of upstream manufacturers, and provide customized application solutions for domestic users.
Facts have proved that Tsinghua Tongfang’s customized application model is completely correct. In March 2006, Tsinghua Tongfang Server won the "Excellent Brand Award" and "Best Service Brand Award" in the "Computer World Network 2006 3.15 IT Product Survey", which was unanimously recognized by the public and public opinion. The customized model of Tsinghua Tongfang's "core" application will gradually mature.