Baidu Cloud

Baidu Cloud
Developer(s) Baidu, Inc.
Initial release September 2012
Stable release 4.6.2 / April 23, 2014[1]
Development status Active
Operating system Web、Windows、Android、iOS、Windows Phone
Available in Chinese
Type Cloud storage
License Freemium
Alexa rank Increase 226,274 (May 2014)[2]
Website yun.baidu.com

Baidu Cloud (Chinese: 百度云; pinyin: Bǎidù Yun; translation: Baidu Cloud) is a Cloud service provided by Baidu, Inc., headquartered in Haidian District in Beijing. It offers a cloud storage service, client software, file management, resources sharing, and Third Party Integration. After being created on one client terminal, files can be synchronized automatically on other internet-connected client terminals. It was launched as Baidu WangPan on Mar. 23 2012, and rebranded as Baidu Cloud on Sep 3 2012. On Aug. 22 2013, an offer of permanent free 2 Terabytes storage for users was announced.[3]

History

Launch of Baidu WangPan

The March 2012 Baidu Developer Conference released a Cloud development strategy, including the launch of a Developer Center Website (http://developer.baidu.com/en/) ,[4] and a cloud storage platform called Baidu WangPan, meaning "web disk", for individual users. Baidu WangPan had PC and Android client terminals, provided users a free 15 GB of space and allowed users to upload files and access them. It operated in competition with established Cloud operations such as Dropbox.[5]

Investment in Cloud Computing Center

On Aug. 19, 2012, Baidu started to build its Cloud Computing Center in Shanxi's Yangquan, which is the hometown of Baidu's Founder Robin Li. Baidu was reported to invest CNY4.708 billion in this center, with CNY2.92 billion for equipment and CNY1.788 billion for infrastructure. It aimed to "attract the world's top information technology manufacturers, and promote the information technology industry development in Yangquan and Shanxi."[6]

Upgrade to Baidu Cloud

During the 2012 Baidu World Conference, Baidu announced upgrades to Baidu WangPan, and a re-branding to "Baidu Cloud". It also launched a new logo, using graphics of clouds, which has been used since.[7] It also issued "seven weapons" for developers, including: PCS, Screen X technical building services Site App, applications, cloud MTC LBS moving clouds, cloud Test Engine, Baidu engine BAE, and kernel browsing.[4]

Partnership with Qualcomm

On Nov. 19, 2012, Baidu offered free cloud storage for Qualcomm chip-based devices. It provided Snapdragon-powered Android phones with 30GB cloud storage, which had been tailored to suit the Snapdragon S4 MSM 8×25 processor and the Snapdragon S4 MSM8x25Q processor.[8]

Participation in Chinese Cloud Storage War

On Aug 22 2013, Baidu Cloud announced its offer of 2 Terabytes of free permanent storage for users, as its strategy in the Cloud Storage 'war' in China. The other competitors in the war included Tencent, and Qihoo 360, Sina, Huawei, 115.com. Before the war, China’s free storage services were mainly focused on storage capacity under 15GB.[9]

Japan warns of security risk

On Dec. 26 2013, the Japanese government's National Information Security Center (NISC) and Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology advised 140 institutions to either disable the cloud-input function of Baidu Input Method Editors (IMEs) or stop using Baidu IMEs. According to Bloomberg News, Tsuneo Tosaka, IDC Japan's Software & Security Research Manager claimed: "Baidu provides the service using a cloud server, which means content flows through servers in China" and "Government-related documents from Japan central ministries and findings from university research institutions are important, so there is a possibility that sensitive information leaks abroad." NISC also suggested not using Google input software and Microsoft input software.[10] Baidu denied the claim and responded that the function aims to improve users' experience and vocabulary habits in the cloud, and "the content uploaded to its server does not contain any personal and private information and the only aim of uploading is to improve users' experience". It also said that there is no illegal uploading behavior or information leakage risk, as the uploaded information and servers are kept and managed in Japan.[11]

Technology

Cloud storage service

Baidu Cloud provides cloud storage services. It supports backup and transfers of photos, videos, audios, contacts, and histories between different devices.[3]

Client software

Baidu Cloud provides client software for web browsers, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. When it is operated on phone devices, it also has the functionality to locate a lost device.[12]

File management

Baidu Cloud supports preview of files of photos, musics, videos and documents on each of its client terminal without downloading them as local files. The videos can be viewed directly on the web browsers, Android system, and iOS system. It provides file synchronization, enabling users to upload and download files of different types. It supports file sharing between different users, and different devices.[13]

Resource sharing

Baidu Cloud provides a platform to share resources. Combined with its own search engine, users can search resources and browse them online.[14]

Third party integration

Baidu's cloud operation can be divided into two main categories: 1. Personal users (http://yun.baidu.com), and 2. Developers (http://developer.baidu.com/en), which is the Open Cloud.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "百度云 版本更新". 23 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Baidu Cloud Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "百度网盘_百度百科". baike.baidu.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Baidu is clouds Web site - Chinese Website Library". en.0430.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Baidu Takes Aim at Dropbox, Microsoft's SkyDrive, With New Cloud Storage Service". techinasia.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Baidu Pushes Cloud Computing Resources To Shanxi". chinatechnews.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "百度网盘升级为百度云并启用新Logo_视觉会visionclub_新浪博客". blog.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  8. ↑ Michael Kan (2012-11-19). "Baidu offers free cloud storage to Qualcomm chip-based devices - Computerworld". computerworld.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "Cloud Storage War in China". linustechtips.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Japan Warns of Security Risk in Software for Language Input". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "Japanese govt warns against Baidu input". globaltimes.cn. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  12. ↑ "百度云 版本更新". yun.baidu.com. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "百度云_百度百科". baike.baidu.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "Baidu cloud music video playback.". pv22.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  15. ↑ "Baidu Cloud Hackathon in Singapore: Testing the Waters in Southeast Asia". blog.thegmic.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.