The AWS Summit 2019 (Beijing) was recently held in China National Convention Center in Beijing. The event was attended by quite a number of world-renowned enterprises, innovative companies and public service organizations. Through technology forums, demonstrations and solutions, they unveiled the latest technology trends and conducted cloud-computing-related exchanges, collaborations and discussions with thousands of participants. In the crowded exhibition hall, our journalist saw the booth of iSoftStone and James Tsiolis, CEO of NETLINKZ that had formed strategic partnership with iSoftStone in this April. James Tsiolis and Wang Zhengxiong, Vice President of Digital Business Department of iSoftStone accepted the interview of our journalist and shared their new thoughts on cloud computing industry and the innovative R&D achievements of both companies.

Constant iteration and updating of technologies for safer private network to Chinese customers

ACBnews data show that Netlinkz Ltd. was founded in 2001 with its headquarter in Australia, which is a communication company engaged in SD-WAN solutions, consulting services to partners of cloud computing and OEM, and safe connection of equipment by software. The company aims to be a major solution provider of global communication network and IoT by its VIN and VSP patent technologies. In April this year, Netlinkz and iSoftStone formed partnership to jointly promote VIN software, and through cooperation with iSoftStone and China Telecom the company carried out commercialization on a subscription basis. On the site, Wang Zhengxiong of iSoftStone told the journalist that both sides will further deepen cooperation and have set up a joint IoT laboratory to better meet the needs of Chinese customers.

Netlinkz’s VIN is high-tech global intelligent networking software based on SDN technology that creates a virtual, invisible and safe data transmission channel so that users can easily download and install VIN on a single device just like an ordinary app. The VINs built in different terminals are interconnected by VSP products to form a private network without dependence on a router or exchanger, similar to dual-encrypted WIFI connection. It may also use cloud to create a private network connecting edge equipment. Driven by iSoftStone and China Telecom Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, hundreds of users are using VIN and VSP products. Whether on travel, in company or at home, the users are connected to a private network by this technology to work seamlessly.

People are using terminal products of different brands e.g. Dell computer, Huawei mobile phone and an office camera of a foreign brand. So how can we manage these devices? Netlinkz develops a new VNS that provides the mechanism of confidentiality and security via an intelligent box to upload all the technologies like POS, ATM, robot, JD's unattended shop and face recognition to the cloud, and such workload could be handled only by the optical fiber of telecom operator before. Furthermore, VNS is safe and efficient (low latency and high throughput), and its cost is only one fifth of that of conventional optical fiber network.

James said that by working closely with iSoftStone, the IoT lab plans to launch the intelligent box in the next 3 to 6 months, and another 6 months later to build VSN on chips. The product is in the form of OEM to be embedded on devices. "In the 5G era, many hackers attempt to steal private data, and VSN product will play a significant role."

In his view, iSoftStone is a highly trustworthy partner with rich engineer resource and capable of designing the source code, making Netlinkz's product highly scalable. In China, the biggest challenge is the scale-up connection of devices while iSoftStone helps Netlinkz cope with the challenge in a faster pace.

Deepening cooperation with AWS

At the AWS summit, when asked about the purpose of attending the summit and exhibition content, James explained that the summit is not only the best platform for enterprises to showcase their technologies to the knowledgeable audience, but a precious opportunity to meet and discuss important topics with the technological and industrial leaders specialized in cloud, data, telecommunication and software.

"Today we are here to launch our products, and we are getting access to the AWS cloud market, which is the first step. Through future cooperation, all VSN and VSN light will be available in the AWS cloud market, and we will be one of the first cloud-only software providers." He said the partnership with AWS will be deepened as more products are launched because Netlinkz helps sell a lot of cloud services. AWS and Netlinkz enjoy the good business partnership.

A promising future of the IoT era

At the end of the interview, James said the network defined by software will be the future direction of data and connection security, and all the cloud interactions and the cloud edges needed for IoT equipment and sensors will be protected. An authoritative report estimated that by 2020, the IoT equipment market might reach 50 billion U.S. dollars and China is a key market of IoT industry.

He believed that in the future era of IoT the network will be connected with billions of devices. For instance, a manufacturing base may be connected with hundreds of thousands of devices like robots, sensors, intelligent cameras and computers. At that time, the biggest challenge will be the network security, a universal issue of the world. The value of Netlinkz is to create an invisible and intangible network to prevent hackers sabotaging the production process. "It will be a broad market. What Netlinkz and iSoftStone bring to Chinese customers is a highly secure private network. It is easy to connect and not visible to others with a higher level of security."