| With the advancement of e-government services | | | | From a national security perspective, it is necessary |
| and applications in China, demand for server products | | | | for government departments to move to a domestic |
| from government departments is on the increase. | | | | server-dominant, foreign server-supplement position |
| Most government network project tenders today | | | | in the long term, in order to change from the |
| would involve procurement of server products. | | | | currently embarrassing situation of reliance on foreign |
| Server applications in public service are mainly for | | | | server products. |
| departmental portals and intranets, used for functions | | | | Trend Four: Meeting e-government demands |
| such as Web, FTP, mail, video, database, OA, | | | | When choosing e-government software platform |
| business applications, resources sharing, data centre | | | | technologies, domestic and multinational providers |
| and disaster recovery. | | | | have very different understanding of the situation. |
| Trend One: Energy efficiency | | | | Multinational products are mostly |
| China is now a big computer user country, so energy | | | | infrastructure-framework types, which have few |
| efficient computers will be an important factor for | | | | specific applications for e-government functions, while |
| building an environmentally friendly country. In terms | | | | domestic providers and system integrators can |
| of server design and applications, energy efficiency | | | | normally provide e-government specific softwares. |
| would be an additional performance criterion besides | | | | Therefore it is expected that there will be more and |
| reliability, manageability, expandability and usability. | | | | more hardware-software integrated server products |
| In this context, blade server products, developed | | | | which are tailored to specific e-government functions |
| with the latest multi-processor and low power | | | | in China in the next few years. |
| consumption technologies, will become a mainstream | | | | Trend Five: Diaster back-up |
| product that competes with the rack servers in a | | | | Due to the escalating data volume and new service |
| few years' time. In addition, server virtualisation | | | | provision, governments in China are now facing the |
| technology has now become a means to improve | | | | inevitable issue of ensuring data integrity, safety and |
| hardware utilisation and management efficiency. | | | | reliability, as well as how to achieve data central |
| In server procurements, government departments | | | | management and a powerful, high-performing and |
| should choose highly energy-efficient CPUs, in order | | | | reliable information storage platform. Many |
| to reduce power wastage from cooling systems and | | | | government departments in China have now |
| improve overall computer energy efficiency. Other | | | | completed the planning of disaster recovery systems |
| hardware configurations, such as memory, I/O and | | | | and are onto the implementation phase. |
| hard drives, should also take into account green and | | | | "Price Inquiry" and "Competitive Negotiation" |
| energy saving factors. | | | | Government procurement of IT products in China |
| Trend Two: Low cost maintenance | | | | usually takes the model of "Price Inquiry" or |
| If internal technical staff can deal with most daily | | | | "Competitive Negotiation". Price Inquiry involves |
| maintenance of servers, a significant portion of | | | | making price inquiries to the public via internet or |
| server procurement costs can then be reduced in the | | | | other media platforms. In this process, the procuring |
| public service sector of China. | | | | party will send price inquiries to at least three |
| There are differences in aftermarket services | | | | suppliers, and choose the final winner based on |
| between foreign and domestic server providers. | | | | project requirements, quality service contents and bid |
| Multinational brands such as IBM, HP and Dell can | | | | price. |
| provide differentiated aftermarket services based on | | | | On the other hand, "Competitive Negotiation" allows |
| different user demands. Their service fees also vary | | | | procurement personnel to directly talk to at least |
| among maintenance frequency and solution | | | | three suppliers on issues such as price, design, |
| promptness. | | | | technical specifications and service requirements, and |
| On the other hand, domestic computer companies, | | | | make selection decisions based on pre-set standards. |
| such as Lenovo, Inspur and Founder, all provide | | | | Competitive Negotiation can only be used in one of |
| three-year service warranty for hard drive products, | | | | the four following situations: Lack of suitable bids for |
| whether it's entry-level products or complex server | | | | tenders; Complex technical issues and uncertain |
| products. Most domestic providers also have the | | | | project specifications; Urgent demands; Inability to |
| advantage of comprehensive service networks in | | | | calculate project costs in advance. |
| many provinces of China. | | | | In terms of premium-grade servers such as |
| Trend Three: Domestic brands getting recognition | | | | microcomputers, the multinational dominance in China |
| With domestic software and system platforms | | | | by IBM, HP and Sun Microsystems are now being |
| maturing, there is also a trend for Chinese | | | | challenged by Chinese domestic server providers. |
| e-government services to adopt domestic | | | | Because of the increasingly competitive server |
| information platforms. | | | | landscape, multinational server providers have cut |
| In recent years, Chinese domestic software systems | | | | down their product pricing in recent years. But for |
| have made significant achievements in core software | | | | most procurement tasks involving high-end servers, |
| technologies, such as operating systems, middleware, | | | | many government departments in China still favour |
| office software, information security, large-scale | | | | multinational brands. |
| application software and embedded systems. | | | | Provincial governments are now issuing annual |
| Domestic servers provided by Dawning, Inspur, | | | | procurement pricing limits on server brands, models |
| Lenovo, PowerLeader, Asus, Tsinghua Tongfang, etc. | | | | and accessories. This could make the pricing of some |
| are now playing an increasingly important role in | | | | entry-level PC servers even more transparent. |
| e-government services in China. | | | | |