Chinese iOS users to benefit from faster cloud data speeds as Apple agrees to use mainland's data centers
Amidst the ongoing tussle between the Chinese government and U.S. companies operating in the country, Apple has decided to extend its own olive branch, by moving all Chinese users cloud data onto local data centers run by China Telecom, on condition that China Telecom’s access to Apple data be barred through encryption.
No announcement has been made by either China Telecom or Apple, in this regard, yet Chinese users have been experiencing faster speeds, due to proximity with the local data centers.
Apple, as well as many other U.S. based tech giants, has been the focus of attention from CCTV, the Chinese government owned news network who has repeatedly been campaigning against the presence of U.S. companies handling China’s data.
Among the accusations, CCTV brought up in a number of reports, how iOS location tracking could be used to steal government data, an allegation to which Apple has responded with a rebuttal, in which the company clarified how location services cannot be used in the manner described by CCTV, and that it is an optional service that can be turned off by the users.
Chinese companies have already started replacing American-made server technology with local servers, such as Alibaba, which replaced all of its IBM servers last year. Its current Oracle servers are slated for replacement in 2015.
China is clearly on track with focusing on proprietary technology, in all facets of data handling, a baffling scenario with massive economical repercussions for both nations. According to Bidness Etc, banking institutions will be the ones to take a massive toll. The Bank of China alone is expected to take as long as 20 years to complete its migration process, during which networking, data storage and computing technologies are likely to change dramatically. On US soil, the effects will be similarly drastic, with a significant amount of US technology still powering many Chinese data infrastructures.