Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is a high priority for Singapore's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Yet, only 37% have a clear roadmap for achieving those goals, according to a study by DBS Bank last year. Local SMEs also needed more technical know-how in the market to implement ESG frameworks and solutions.
Recognising this, Huawei offers innovation labs, training and discovery workshops aimed at helping SMEs decarbonise while accelerating their digitalisation journey. SMEs will get to learn and explore how Huawei’s solutions in smart ICT infrastructure, cloud AI, and green energy digital power can enable sustainable digital transformation.
“Our AI lab, for instance, demonstrates AI’s capability through real-world case studies, which could encourage SMEs to explore AI and co-create solutions,” says Ashley Fernandez, chief data and AI officer of Huawei International, at the ONE Huawei Partner Summit 2023 in Singapore on June 9.
SMEs usually need more human resources and knowledge to deploy and maintain digital technologies. This is why Huawei has developed 60 new cost-effective products and 40 scenario-specific solutions that are energy-efficient, easy to install and use, self-optimised, and cyber-hardened to lower technical barriers. The innovations include Huawei’s Smart Campus Solution based on SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network), xGbps Fiber to the room (FTTR) solution, Ransomware Protection IT system, and comprehensive cloud solution offerings. Additionally, Huawei recently rolled out an eKit to provide SMEs with standardised products and digital toolkits that can be easily deployed and cost little to maintain.
Empowering partners
To further help SMEs in Singapore with sustainable digital transformation, Huawei will focus on serving three major markets with its channel partners, shares Lei Ting, senior vice president and head of partnership of Huawei Enterprise Singapore, at the same event.
See also: Huawei helps accelerate ICT talent cultivation for mutual benefits in intelligent education
For the strategic accounts market, it will jointly innovate with partners to build lighthouse references that can be replicated rapidly for large enterprises. On the other hand, it will provide a lightweight portfolio solution that is easy for partners to market to the commercial market consisting of SMEs, while the eKit will help partners serve the micro-SMEs in the distribution business market.
She adds that the company will double its investment with its partners by providing more rebates, enablement and training. Furthermore, Huawei has jointly launched the Huawei Singapore Partners Alliance programme for the commercial market with 23 focus partners to share industry trends, best practices and discuss how they can better support their customers.
“The Partners Alliance programme is a collective eco-partners initiative where Huawei and its partners collaborate, exchange ideas, and drive innovation to grow the digitalisation market for SMEs better. It also serves as a platform where partners can come together bi-annually to share and learn the latest best practices from Huawei from a global standpoint and to localise them to help drive the competitiveness of Singapore’s SMEs,” says Peter Du, managing director of Huawei Enterprise Singapore.
See also: Incubating technology projects to foster an inclusive and sustainable Smart Nation 2.0
Greening the data centre
Despite the benefits of AI, the technology requires massive computing power. A 2021 research paper found that training the AI model of GPT-3 took 1.287-gigawatt hours, which generated 502 tonnes of carbon emissions. As more organisations embrace AI to enhance their operations, it is crucial to modernise data centres, which serve as the backbone of AI and the digital economy.
“Data centres in the intelligent era need to enable carbon neutrality, business agility, operations and maintenance (O&M) efficiency, and ensure service availability,” says Deng Jiang, vice president and head of Data Center Facility & Critical Power of Huawei Digital Power Singapore. He adds that data centre operators should therefore consider deploying solutions that are:
- Green, meaning they offer high energy efficiency, high density, and a small footprint.
- Simple to deploy, operate and maintain as the solutions are modular or prefabricated
- Smart, wherein they leverage AI and digital technologies to enable intelligent O&M, such as AI-based fault identification, and optimise energy efficiency.
- Reliable in architecture and enabling preventive maintenance to enable system availability of > 99.9995%.
Huawei's PowerPOD 3.0 is one solution that offers the capabilities mentioned above. The power supply solution requires just 10 cabinets as it integrates components and optimises key nodes. It can be deployed in two weeks instead of the two months traditional solutions require. It also offers intelligent O&M and AI-based inspection to reduce O&M costs. Besides that, it provides life prediction and AI-based high-temperature warnings for mission-critical components in advance, enabling predictive and proactive maintenance.
