Huawei: Inside the lair of the not-so-hidden dragon

a few thoughts

"I like my job....." came to mind as i thought of Simon van Gelder, hahaha

As for patents, they better recognize that it is not a novel idea to cool cabinets vs the entire roo. That idea and actuality can be seen in IT spaces back at least 5 years refined and 10 years in more primitive implementations. What will be novel or, rather, patent worthy will be SPECIFIC components in the arrangement. But, just look at car engines: cooling tubes and ducts can be found doing their tasks in various areas of the engine compartment because ambient airflow is either inefficient or virtually nonexistent.

Logan‘s Run.... Hahaha, i like that reference, as it was van Gelder i was thinking of just before seeing tge LR reference.

I've been there. Its an incredible place. Some parts a real mix if new styles with history. Came out of one room into a lobby where there was a lady making tea and would perform a full Chinese tea ceremony. Then we went to the logistics area which was a dark warehouse controlled by robot arms whizzing around moving parcels.

Great food, no photos!

I was there on a project & software review workshop for a week several years ago - I can concur with the author about the food quality available on the campus - it is only to be expected that the the formal customer "wining &dining" restaurant rooms had great food, but so did the canteen for the normal staff.

As to why there are no photos of the R&D areas - simple, cameras are banned - indeed, I was lucky that I was allowed to keep my smart phone with built in camera on me - my laptop had to be locked away in a secure locker before I was allowed to enter the development areas.

Show us the money

This notion that Huawei's gear is somehow backdoored or faulty because some people think that the Chinese government is untrustworthy and is pulling the strings is deeply troubling.

Either a) it's true, which would be dynamite; or b), it's false , in which case some w**ker is trading in barely-disguised innuendo instead of competing. I hear this claim all the time, but no one has EVER shown the evidence. So I think it's (b).

Huawei certainly were not angels over Cisco IOS, but that's the only violation I know about, and they settled with Cisco. It makes them no worse than, say Samsung vs Apple. So where's the rest of the evidence?

I don't have any stake in Huawei, but I find the total absence of evidence deeply suspicious.

Last sentence

depend on just how much it’s prepared to bend to Western expectations of how a technology company should be run

Hmmm. You mean have the company run by a board of despots who stuff as much of the profits into their own pockets as they can, while skimping on the R&D and putting as many employees in their own country out of a job by outsourcing manufacture to somewhere that slave labour is all but legal? (Which somewhat ironically, is often elsewhere in China). Not giving a damn about the long-term future of the organisation, because the short-term determines how many more millions they'll have to retire on? Replacing doing the right thing for its customers, with extracting every last penny from its customers by any legal means and many not so legal?

Compared to many of our companies, this sounds pretty utopian. It also sounds not unlike the non-company that I'd like to buy shares in if I could, but I can't - John Lewis partnership. Anyway, more like that, than a limited company. Also shades of how a top UK university used to be, before the government decided it ought to be run by professional parasites, sorry, managers.

If it's just an act, it's a very expensive and successful one.

Backdoors

So iOS devices have backdoors??? I mean they are made and assembled in China, after all.

Employee Share Program

The employee share program mentioned at the start of the article has many similarities to a Ponzi scheme.

The current global economic situation and Huawei lay-offs have the banks and laid off workers cashing out from Huawei along with decreased Govt. "investments" flowing in.

Difficulties in breaking into the western market have pretty much stopped expansion revenue.

What happens to a Ponzi Scheme when the cash stops flowing in?

"Black Days" as some executives have said.