Top of the big era

Zhou Buqi got in touch with Kurian and went straight to the topic without any nonsense, "Are you leading a team to develop a cloud database?"

"right."

"Tell me the specific situation."

"This may have to start from the beginning." Kurian has worked under Boss Zhou for a long time, so he knows how much this legendary boss weighs. "I'm worried that you don't understand."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "Okay, you go ahead and make a long story short."

Kurian said: "First of all, the database is very important. The database is basic software, but it is the crown jewel of basic software and the most profitable basic software in the world."

Zhou Buqi said: "I know that there are countless shortcuts to intellectual property rights in the database. The fees are very high and the profits are also very high."

Kurian continued: "The industry concentration of commercial databases is relatively high, mainly Oracle's Oracle and Microsoft's MSSQL. However, there are still many versions, and there are dozens of databases developed based on open source frameworks... In short, this market is very Prosperity. And it’s huge and promising.”

The businesses are different, but the business logic behind them is the same.

In this regard, Zhou Buqi has already summarized himself, "Yes, it needs to be 'third party + self-operated'."

"ah?"

Kurian was slightly startled.

Zhou Buqi’s theory is completely a summary of his personal experience and industry rules. He did not tell everyone. Kurian was not sure, so he smiled and said: “The platform economic model I summarized must be It is a combination of third-party products and self-operated products. Without third parties, the scale will not increase; without self-operated products, the potential risks will be too great."

Kurian praised: "Yes, it is indeed such an idea."

The cloud computing platform is actually a platform.

Customers can purchase many services on this platform, such as leasing servers and leasing computing power. They can also purchase many software products and services here, such as databases, artificial intelligence, office, WeChat, financial management systems, etc.

Since it is a platform, it cannot be separated from the big logic of "self-operated + third party".

The current database market is very mature. The industry leader is Oracle, and there are many other database products. For Ziweiyun, these are third-party databases.

These products are sold on Ziweiyun. After making money, the platform and merchants share the profits in proportion, just like Amazon, JD.com, and Taobao Mall take a commission on the sales of third-party stores.

Therefore, a database that is self-operated by Ziweixing and has sufficient competitiveness is just what is needed!

It is not only for making money, but also related to an important part of Ziweixing’s ecological stability.

Many small steps can be completely handed over to a third party, and it doesn't matter if it is not self-operated. Even if something happens to the third party, it will not have much impact on the platform.

But the database is different. This is the most important software service and is indispensable!

Kurian continued: "Now there is an opportunity for dividends of the times, and Zi Weiyun must seize it."

"What bonus?"

"Not all databases can be moved to the cloud. Even with an excellent product like Oracle Database, if you want to switch from the local database model to the cloud database model, you must go through a period of pain and transformation. At this stage, they The product failure rate will also be greatly increased."

"Well, that's right." Zhou Buqi immediately followed this idea, "I used to be a cavalry, and if I want to switch to infantry, I may encounter a period of discomfort. After all, when riding a horse, I am affected by the horse. The field of view makes it difficult to look back, resulting in poor field of vision; infantry has no horses and has a 360-degree full field of view, so the field of view is better."

Kurian said with a smile: "If this is an example, then all databases at this stage are cavalry. There is not yet a cloud database that is native to infantry in the market! Whoever can take this first step will become the industry leader. !”

"So that's it!"

Zhou Buqi suddenly realized.

This is the most important truth.

If domestic and foreign countries each develop a database, even if both sides succeed, it will take several years... The product is built, but the time is wasted.

The dividend of the first-mover advantage of being the first in the industry is lost.

If database teams at home and abroad can work together to do this, then all technical resources can be pooled to develop Ziweixing's cloud-native database earlier!

It may really be the world's first commercial cloud-native database.

Ziweiyun is a true industry leader.

Obviously, Kurian is no ordinary person.

This guy has great ambitions.

Just developing Ziweiyun is not his goal. His goal is to build Ziweiyun into the world's largest cloud computing platform!

This can be seen from the continuous spending of large sums of money on acquisitions in the market in the past two years.

In the past 12 months, Ziweiyun has launched more than 22 mergers and acquisitions in the market, with a total cost of more than 3.75 billion US dollars, of which cash expenditures exceeded 2 billion US dollars.

Who among ordinary executives would dare to do this?

Even if Boss Zhou agrees to give money, not many people have such courage. No matter how much money you spend, how much responsibility you have to bear and how much goal you have to achieve.

This cloud database incident is a demonstration of Kurian’s belief.

He wants to be number one in the world!

Kurian said solemnly: "I have heard that Amazon developed its own cloud database using the open source framework of MySQL as early as two years ago, and it was widely applied and verified in internal business last year. . They launched their efforts earlier. If we cannot integrate resources, it will be difficult to catch up and surpass Amazon. In a few years, Amazon will launch the world's first cloud-native database. Who will remember what the second one is?"

Zhou Buqi sighed when he heard what he said.

Amazon earlier?

How can it be!

In fact, as early as five years ago, he had already launched a layout in the field of distributed databases, and invested a lot of human and financial resources, sending almost all the best technical experts in the company to develop Feitian Database.

Unfortunately, this is the wrong choice.

Yang Zhenkun has feelings and beliefs, and a very high level of technology. He claims to create a product that stands up to the standards of heaven and earth. However, he has been working in China for many years and has no experience of studying or working overseas. He is a bit like a frog in the well and is not very aware of the outside industry situation and world trends.

Including Dr. Wang Jian, he is also a local scientist. In the early days, he was stubborn about independent research and development... (Alibaba Cloud's early technical dilemma was that Wang Jian insisted on self-research. Later, after suffering a lot of torture, he finally recognized the reality and relied on the open source framework. Only then did he seize the opportunity. The number one dividend in the country, quickly dominating the market)

Self-research is a good thing, and it should be.

For Ziweixing's strategic level, it missed the opportunity!

It almost delayed Zhou Buqi’s important event!

In contrast, Amazon is very self-aware and does not even think about self-research and directly uses open source frameworks. Even if the open source system has such shortcomings, there is one advantage that purely self-developed products cannot compete with, and that is efficiency.

Many open source frameworks are already very mature.

It's like building a house.

When one person builds a house, he starts from scratch, starting from digging the soil and laying the foundation; when another person builds a house, the main building of the building already exists, and he only needs to strengthen the walls and decorate the interior.

After the former is built, the house may be stronger and more stable.

The latter can be implemented faster, can be commercialized faster, and can be launched into the market faster to grab territory.

When the self-developed product is finally developed and launched to the market... you will find that the market pattern has been set long ago, there is no chance anymore, user habits have been formed, and no matter how good the product is, it is useless.

Fortunately, Zhou Buqi later adjusted the main person in charge of the cloud computing business.

The domestic president of Ziweiyun is Dr. Zhou Feng, a top student who returned from studying in the United States; the overseas president of Ziweiyun is Dr. Kurian.

The two of them have very clear perspectives and hit it off instantly.

Only then did Ziwei Cloud Database's new plan be vigorously and comprehensively promoted, Feitian Database was downgraded, and priority was given to Cloud Database.

In terms of time, this is already slower than Amazon Cloud Database.

Seeing that the big boss was silent for a long time, Kurian said in a relaxed tone: "It doesn't matter, as long as we follow my ideas, our cloud database will definitely surpass Amazon and become the world's first commercial cloud native database."

"Oh, is it so?"

Only then did the haze in Zhou Buqi's heart dissipate a lot.

Kurian was very confident, even a little arrogant, and said without shame: "How can there be anyone at Amazon who understands databases? They are all a bunch of waste. Although our actions are a little slow, as long as we move in the right direction, On the way, we will definitely surpass them."

Zhou Buqi was very cautious, "You can't underestimate Amazon."

"The person in charge of the Amazon cloud database is Tony. I know that guy is just second-rate." Kurian was very disdainful, and then started to boast, "Our team is much better than them. Johnny is very good. , I have had several exchanges with him. The Chinese team led by Johnny is hard-working and capable of working overtime for a long time. And one of their biggest advantages is that they are good at solving complex problems. In terms of problem-solving ability, they have strong Ni's team is better than the team I have."

Then Kurian further explained this point.

Domestic technical fields are particularly good at solving problems rather than raising them.

Using the MySQL open source framework to develop a cloud database of your own, this is the process of asking questions... Many failures have occurred during the development, operation and maintenance of the product, and the problem is solved.

American teams are good at asking questions, and domestic teams are good at solving problems.

This is the main reason for the plan proposed by Kurian, to give full play to their respective advantages, retain the version of the cloud database developed by his team, and let his team raise questions.

Ni Qiang led the domestic team to solve the many technical failures that would arise next based on the issues he raised.

Learn from each other's strengths and integrate resources.

Thus surpassing Amazon!