The Way of Data: From Technology to Application

The Digital China Series

Wu Hequan， Tan Tieniu， Mei Hong， Jin Hai

China Science and Technology Press

August 2020

80.00 （CNY）

Artificial Intelligence： Using AI Technology to Create a Smarter Future

Tan Tieniu is an expert in pattern recognition and computer vision. He is an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences， a foreign academic at the Royal Academy of Engineering， an academic at the World Academy of Sciences， and a researcher at the Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Tan’s research specialty is in image processing， computer vision， pattern recognition， and other related fields. His current research focuses on three areas---" biometric recognition， image and video understanding， and information content security. His research interests include computer vision monitoring of dynamic scenes， character recognition and identification based on human behavior and biological characteristics， and watermarking of digital multimedia data.

Cloud Computing： Infrastructure and Service Engines of the Information Society

Mei Hong is a computer software expert， an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences， and a foreign academic at the Academia Europaea. He is mainly engaged in research in the fields of software engineering and system software. He has made achievements in component software middleware， development methodology， and tool environment.

Jin Hai， Ph.D.， is a professor of computer science at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His research interests are in desktop virtualization， multi-machine virtualization， grid computing and cloud computing， virtual machine and system structure， parallel compilation and optimization and computer system simulation， virtual machine security and cloud security， system performance evaluation， peer-to-peer computing， semantic web and knowledge management， image processing， pervasive computing and wireless network， and mass data management.

Big data and cloud computing are correlative. On the one hand， cloud computing provides big data with robust storage and computing capabilities as well as higher-speed data processing， allowing for more convenient service provision. On the other hand， business needs from big data will find more and better practical applications for the implementation of cloud computing. In general， cloud computing has created technical premises for the rise and development of big data. If big data is likened to a resource-rich mining pool， then cloud computing is a tool and approach for gold mining.

After ten years of development， cloud computing has a scale of over ten billion in China. It is no longer just a tool for storage and computing. It has been popularized and become the mainstream technology and business model of the IT industry. We can regard the cloud as an apple tree full of big data.

Simply put， cloud computing is a computing method based on the Internet. Through cloud computing， shared software and hardware resources and information can travel to computers and other devices on demand， just like water and electricity. At the same time， the National Institute of Standards and Technology （NIST） defined the five basic characteristics （on-demand self-service， extensive network access， resource sharing， rapid scalability， and usage-based billing）， three service models， and four deployment methods of cloud computing models that can provide flexible and fast resource services.

Among them， cloud computing has three fundamental service models： SaaS， PaaS， and IaaS， of which， IaaS is a basic computing resource for rent processing， storage， network， etc. Consumers can obtain services from a complete computer infrastructure through the Internet. PaaS is an application created or acquired by consumers using programming languages and tools designated by resource providers and deploying them on the cloud infrastructure. SaaS is an application that runs on cloud infrastructure， and consumers do not directly manage or control the underlying infrastructure.

In layman’s terms， the three service models can be regarded as a pizza buying process. If you suddenly feel like eating pizza one day， you can choose to buy instant pizza and bake it at home. That means you need a pizza supplier （IaaS） that provides the ingredients. Perhaps you feel this is too troublesome， so you decide to order one through a delivery app. The pizza you ordered will be delivered to your doorstep shortly （PaaS）. Of course， if you happen to be near a pizzeria， you can also get pizza in the store. Compared with the first two methods， this method is more direct. You get a table and napkins， and all you have to do is wait for your food to arrive （SaaS）.

Artificial Intelligence： Using AI Technology to Create a Smarter Future

The evolution of human society was a long historical process， and the history of human civilization can also be said to be a history of technological development. Countless historical changes have shown that the progress of human society is closely related to scientific and technological progress. The birth of civilization and its sustainable development is due to humans having mastered scientific and technological achievements in work and practice over a long period of time. There is no doubt that the level of science and technology is the most fundamental symbol of the progress of human civilization. As an important emerging technology field today， artificial intelligence has become an important driving force for the development of human society.

In recent years， artificial intelligence technology and its application fields have been further developed and expanded， driven by massive amounts of data， machines with more extensive storage and faster processing capabilities， and web-based information collection technology. The remarkable rise of artificial intelligence technology and its wide application in transportation， medical care， environmental protection， culture， education， and other fields have played a positive role in improving people’s living standards.

Cars are equipped with applications that help drivers navigate， park， and avoid accidents， further promoting the management and guidance of smart traffic. Immersive augmented reality technology is used in the medical field， allowing doctors located in different places to “be present in person” through remote communication and partake in collaborative medical diagnosis. Crowdsourcing services facilitated by social networks are used to strengthen the democratic supervision of society， helping governments to fight corruption， supervise elections， report repressive actions， etc. to improve people’s lives and manage society.

All in all， as the core driving force of the new round of industrial transformation， artificial intelligence will further release the enormous amount of energy accumulated in previous scientific and technological revolutions and industrial transformations and create a new powerful engine to reconstruct production， distribution， exchange， consumption， and other economic activities. This will form new demands for intelligence in various fields from macro to micro， spawning new technologies， new products， new industries， new business forms， and new models， triggering major changes in economic structure， human production， lifestyles， and ways of thought， and unveiling new beginnings for society.

Cloud Computing： Infrastructure and Service Engines for the Information Society

If there exists such a computer， the utilization rate of the computing resources （processor， network bandwidth， memory， disk， etc.） of the computer will stay at around 90%， no matter if it is working regularly or when it is at the peak of its use. In other words， the utilization of computing resources will be flexibly adjusted according to the intensity of work and can always meet the demand. Only a tiny part of the resources are idle and have never been used.

If there is such a technology， this technology can extract and centrally manage the idle resources in some computers and use them in other computing tasks where other computing resources are insufficient to meet specific calculations needed in daily computing work. For example， when faced with peak work periods or sudden resource demands （such as sudden user visits， holidays， etc.）， the technology can allocate an appropriate amount of computing resources to the server to ensure the quality of service.

If there is such a product service， the emphasis would be on the right to use the product rather than ownership. The company does not need to purchase or own the product but can use it at will. This ensures the possibility of multiple people sharing the product. Moreover， the company can pay according to the duration they used the product and would only need to pay for the actual usage within a certain period of time. This would greatly reduce the company’s cost and expenditure and result in higher net profit.

If we had heard of these thoughts before 2006， we might have thought that these were incredible and very much like a fantasy. But today， such computers， technology， and services have all become a reality， and the key to realizing these is cloud computing. What is cloud computing？ What magic lies behind cloud computing？ How did the traditional information industry change in just over ten years from a concept to the widespread use of cloud computing？ I believe that everyone will find their own answers after reading this book. So， let us uncover the mystery of cloud computing together！