29
Fri, Nov
0 New Articles

Out of the Blue: The China Card

Commentary
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

Victims of hit-and-run rickshaw drivers who were wheeled into the Beijing Union Hospital back in 1934 may have noticed an unusual piece of nonmedical equipment. Described, perhaps apocryphally, as an "information processing system," it was IBM's first install in China.

I learned this implausible bit of trivia at three o'clock one recent morning while my brain was as sluggish as that historic machine. At that time of day, ask not for whom the phone tolls, it tolls for thee. I fumbled for it and was rewarded with a cheerful voice asking me if it was 6:00 a.m. in America. It was, on the other coast. But, since I don't awaken to calls from China every morning, this was no time to let a trifling time zone miscalculation deter me.

It had taken several months and the investigative tenacity of Ari Fishkind of Technology Solutions, an IBM media relations group, to set up this call, unearthing one of the bigger AS/400 opportunities on either side of the bamboo curtain.

The genial voice on the phone belonged to Mr. Mark Guan, an IBM media representative. While I struggled to clear my head, he told me that IBM is enjoying rapid growth in this emerging market. In each of the last three years, sales have increased over 50 percent, and the 700 IBM employees now working in China have forged an install base that spans most major industries.

It was not always so. IBM's involvement in China was interrupted for a period of 30 years beginning in 1949. I checked, and that coincides with the ascendancy of Mao Tse-tung. Diplomacy interceded in 1972, when, after years of hunting communists, Richard Nixon started visiting them. His outreach to China culminated in normalized relations between the two nations in 1979, at which time IBM returned to install its first midrange system in the Shen Yang Blowers Works.

In the mid-1980s, Mr. Guan continued, IBM opened offices in Beijing in the north and Shanghai on the East China Sea. By 1992, IBM had established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Beijing?the IBM China Company Limited?and opened additional offices in Guangzhou (formerly Canton) in the south.

Guan introduced Ms. Diana Yin Danling, who is the business unit manager for banking, finance, and securities, and Mr. Li Quing Huang, the AS/400 marketing support manager. They head a team that supports one of China's four largest banks, the Agricultural Bank of China, diminutively known as ABC. By any standard, however, this is no small bank. It employs 500,000 people who staff an astonishing 50,000 branch offices spread across thousands of cities, towns, and villages in China's 26 provinces. By contrast, the Bank of America, one of the largest in the United States, operates 2,000 branch offices in 10 western states. ABC's assets, although not approaching the Bank of America's, total a respectable $124 billion.

ABC has chosen IBM to modernize its OPS (banking operations, that is). Prior to 1987, the bank relied principally on an IBM mainframe in its headquarters and PCs in its larger branches. The plan, explained Ms. Yin and Mr. Li, is to place AS/400s in the provinces and network them, gradually pushing automation down to the bank's more modest and remote locations. Each of the provinces will eventually have multiple AS/400s linking larger branch offices to regional IBM mainframes and to the headquarters system. In smaller cities and rural offices, PCs will connect banking operations to the network.

The AS/400 will support a full range of banking applications, including financial systems, customer account management, ATM support, and credit card billing. ABC will also develop applications in-house. The AS/400's native language support capability is integral to the success of this huge undertaking. The user-friendly Chinese version of OS/400 expedites training; and IBM, in consort with the emerging Asian Business Partner community, has invested in the development of Hanzi (Chinese character) applications.

To meet the growing demand for native Chinese applications, IBM opened a software development center in Shanghai and entered into joint ventures with two local software houses. Bob Dies, the AS/400 Division's new general manager, confirmed in a June MC interview ("A Conversation with Bob Dies") the importance of application availability. "In emerging markets," said Dies, "the major challenge is to make sure we have Business Partners and application providers present in those countries with solutions."

Ms. Yin explained that China's underdeveloped infrastructure will have an impact on the speed with which the project proceeds. Although several foreign telephony providers have contracted with the Chinese government to upgrade the nation's telephone system, telephone lines are not yet readily available. A solstice can elapse while a customer waits for a simple dial-up line. What service is available is often not sufficiently reliable for data transmission. This was confirmed by several disconnects during our conversation.

Although the bank is state-owned, the availability of foreign currency and trained technical professionals is an additional delimiting factor for Chinese industries eager to automate. Such projects, therefore, require patient commitment and long-term customer support?an opportunity for IBM to reclaim its roots.

IBM's traditional respect for the individual, and its ethical business standards, can do more in China than serve the company's ambitions. They can build human as well as technological bridges to a nation on the uneasy verge of assimilation into the global market. Historically, the promise of western trade for China has been a Trojan horse, alternately stuffed with benefits and exploitation. Thus, who stands inside the horse matters.

IBM Chairman Lou Gerstner expressed his hopes for IBM's partnership with China this way: "We want to become an important part of China's economic development, and we want to be a local company supported by global resources." The global makeup of the IBM China Company reflects his desire: 15 percent of its employees are from other nations.

I wondered how the AS/400, and computer technology in general, were being received in China. Mark Guan rather earnestly said that the Chinese were "very open-minded to new technology." There was a sense of urgency and excitement, he said. "The people are diligent, and happy to learn."

That was precisely my experience some 15 years ago when I travelled to Taiwan to install a computer system. While there, I picked up just two essential words of Chinese, and I strained now to recall them.

"Pijo," I finally said, testing my linguistic prowess.

After struggling with my accent, someone chuckled and deciphered: "Beer!"

"Shay-shay," I offered, which means "thanks."

Having exhausted my conversational Chinese, I wished them well with their project, and they most graciously thanked me for my time and interest. I sat for a moment, grateful for an opportunity to glimpse a world so different yet increasingly so like my own. It was four o'clock in the morning. My mind, exhausted and exhilarated, fluttered about like the moth outside my darkened window and finally settled on this thought: it was something Confucius understood 2,500 years ago when he said, "By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart."

To all those who made this story possible: "Shay-shay a lot."

Victor Rozek has 17 years of experience in the data processing industry, including seven years with IBM in Operations Management and Systems Engineering.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: