Nathaniel Zhang, executive director of Huawei KZN region

Huawei hosted its first commercial summit in KwaZulu-Natal on 17 May, attended by more than 100 guests, ranging from technology enthusiasts to industry leaders.

The event, where guests were treated to demonstrations of the latest Huawei platforms and technologies, explored the current trends in innovation and technological advancements aimed at business acceleration. Speakers shared emerging technologies and new products that enhance Huawei’s vision of building a connected world.

Nathaniel Zhang, executive director of the Huawei KZN region, elaborated on the significance of the company hosting its first commercial summit in the province.

“Kwa-Zulu Natal is a vibrant region in South Africa, and has also become a role model for other regions or countries that are trying to go digital and grow their digital economies. The potential for growth here is unmatched. We are honoured to be part of this process. It has been great to work with such wonderful customers and partners who are driving the region’s digital transformation.”

The Huawei expert presenters demonstrated how the company remains dedicated to enabling industries by seamlessly integrating technologies such as cloud and AI with industry scenarios, and collaborating with partners to foster mutually beneficial ecosystems.

Huawei connectivity capability

The event heard how Huawei’s new experience-centric 10Gbit/s CloudCampus solution allows enterprises of all sizes to unlock higher efficiency and convenience.

Huawei senior solution manager Floyd Naidoo explained that when driven by both technologies and applications, enterprises see three major changes amid their digital and intelligent transformation: fully wireless terminals, always-assured applications and intelligent operations and management (O&M).

Huawei’s all-scenario Wi-Fi 7 is an industry-first facility upgrade providing single terminal test speeds of up to 4.33Gbit/s, twice that of Wi-Fi 6E networks. “As a result, ultra-large files can be downloaded in seconds,” said Naidoo.

The solution also brings the industry’s first campus digital map, which is a map of networks, users, terminals and applications that visualises the end-to-end experience, helping to locate the root causes of problems through a click. Naidoo revealed that this can improve O&M efficiency tenfold.

Unleashing the potential of data infrastructure with Huawei storage solutions

Unstructured data is becoming predominant, and data sources are diversifying, impeding the flow and management of data. Huawei’s award-winning Flash-to-Flash F2F2X Data Centre Architecture speeds up innovation in businesses and accelerates all-flash storage, resulting in 30% higher performance than peer products.

Clinton George, chief technology officer of Huawei Southern Africa Enterprise Data Centre, said: “We are committed to helping companies strengthen their data storage capabilities. With more than 10 years growing our data storage capabilities, we stand ready to help companies take part in the acceleration of the AI era with our F2F2X data infrastructure, and our more than 3 200 storage patents, more than 8 000 storage R&D engineers and 12 R&D centres in North America, Europe, India and China.”

Huawei’s flash-based SSD product range, eKit, was also presented. The digital transformation of SMEs is critical for economic success. Huawei’s eKit product range works to equip servers with more efficient SSDs in place of spinning disk. This way, computer performance is also unleashed as the products are suitable for PCs and laptops. Huawei’s eKit product range is also characterised by high portability and durability, and enables on-the-go data storage.

Jacques Visagie, chief technology officer for Huawei Commercial Division Enterprise Business Group, explained: “To really make things easy for our clients, the eKit products are easy to use, learn and understand. They are also easy to operate and guarantee a good user experience. In addition, we provide delivery and on-site maintenance services for end customers as well as support to the market that includes parts replacement and technical support.”

Huawei partnership programme

The Huawei partner policy in the commercial market is to build a partner-centric and trusted ecosystem for partners to gain more benefits, incentives and profits. To nurture trust, Huawei has optimised the deal registration policy based on the partner policy developed in 2023. From 2024, partners are given an extra discount of 10% on top of the authorised discount for distributors upon successful deal registration, which is better than the usual rates offered.

Huawei director of Commercial and Distribution Business, South Africa Enterprise Business, Vincent Liu, explained to the audience that a “series of incentives have been designed to encourage partners to strengthen commercial market development and, once they achieve the preset sales targets, they will be given new registration rebates and growth incentives. Huawei’s partners are also provided with more flexible pricing policies and assisted to achieve business growth and increase profits.”

Huawei’s strategy of selling its products exclusively through partners is currently 98% operational, with more than a thousand registered partners. The strategy also entails cooperating with partners to build a strong ICT ecosystem.

Accelerating cost-effective intelligent upgrade with Huawei Cloud

An increasing number of businesses are moving their resources into the cloud for improved storage and security. The need to be able to securely keep and preserve data for optimal business performance has led to a growing requirement for robust and secure cloud services. This makes Huawei’s cloud services sought after as the company is known for supporting business sectors in South Africa with effective cloud services.

Rajan Govender, business partner director for Huawei Cloud, presented on the strength of the company’s cloud services offering. He shared that Huawei is driving future development in cloud through ongoing innovation. The company is the world’s fastest-growing cloud service provider, with the most comprehensive coverage in Africa, as well as the fastest-growing number of partners.

“We are able to have the fastest-growing customer numbers because the availability of our cloud services is always guaranteed, secure, trusted and stable. We are also trusted because we prioritise partner engagement. Our local experts also have support from our global network, which gives our customers peace of mind.”

Huawei also ensures the security of its cloud services through regional and international industry accreditation, with more than 70 widely recognised certifications. This allows the company to offer cloud services to a varied number of industries and applications, including ERP transformation, backup and restore, video surveillance, and cloud communications, as well as the education, financial services, media and entertainment, and e-commerce industries.

Society is entering the intelligent era, and digital and intelligent technologies have become fundamental to daily operations and key to capitalising on opportunities and ensuring sustained growth. With the rise of big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, there is an increasing need for solutions that can help enterprises raise the bar while keeping systems safe from threats.

This first Huawei commercial summit in KZN facilitated engaging discussions on the latest advancements in technology and insights into how Huawei is at the forefront of moving towards a smarter future.