Alibaba deepens push into enterprise services with cloud-enabled mini computer

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has unveiled a compact device that promises the power of a high performance desktop in a package that weighs only 60gms.

The tiny Wuying computer packs enough power to cut the rendering time of one frame of high resolution animation from 90 minutes using a traditional personal computer down to 10 minutes, thanks to robust back-end cloud resources, the company said in a statement ahead of its annual Aspara computing conference on Thursday.

“Wuying is not only designed for home-use but can also be used as a replacement for computers across government agencies and enterprises. All you have to do is connect it to a screen, then you can use it to do anything you would use a PC to do,” Alibaba Cloud president Jeff Zhang said during the online event.

“With the evolution of cloud technology, everyone will have a cloud computer. You can purchase resources anytime you want, scale the computing power as you need, and release the resources whenever you are done with them,” he said. “No more moving information around from one storage media to the next.”

Alibaba, which did not provide pricing for the device and related services, said all user data will be stored in a data centre-like security environment for full data protection. The computer is initially for enterprise customers only but will be available for individual consumers in the future.

Cloud computing was Alibaba’s second-biggest revenue contributor last quarter, with sales growing 59 per cent to 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion). That growth was primarily driven by its “public cloud and hybrid cloud businesses, reflecting higher average revenue per customer”, the company said in a press release.