Surprising Through Innovation: NetCraft Grows Its Market with Huawei Modular Data Center Solutions

Founded in 1996, Macanese enterprise NetCraft started life focused on providing network infrastructure: the secret, you might say, is in the name. But, over 25 years of business, the company has grown and moved forward, evolving into new specialties, from cybersecurity and the cloud to crafting business solutions, Extra Low Voltage (ELV) construction, and more.

With a company slogan that boldly states "INTELLIGENCE Creates the FUTURE," all of us at NetCraft are committed to providing totally trustworthy, high quality services to our customers.

Searching for Innovative Solutions to Take the Market by Surprise

We were first introduced to Huawei back in 2015. At that time, most data centers in Macau were designed according to a traditional model, meaning a mix and match of racks, switches, servers, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs), and so on.

At that time, we were beginning to explore how we could become a company that could add more value to customers, by providing more innovative services: this is when we discovered the Huawei Modular Data Center Solution. All of its components are modular: an easy way for customers to understand this solution is to think of each component like a “Lego Block”, just like the ones we all played with when we were young. Customers can configure and build higher and wider simply by adding more blocks. And so, with a modular data center, customers can easily expand simply by adding more modules in the future, according to their needs. And with all modules already prefabricated and built in the factory, the length of construction lead times is slashed for every additional IT resource added.

Going to Market with Huawei

So NetCraft started to promote this modular solution and we began to skill up our team the following year. We could see plenty of opportunities in Macau, ripe for the Huawei Modular Data Center Solution, given that many customers were dissatisfied with their data centers and physical space here is tight.

With big ambitions, we held an event to introduce the Huawei Modular Data Center Solution to customers and construction partners in Macau. Normally we'd see 30–40 attendees at events like these. But 200 customers and partners turned up — tangible evidence that the solution had got the market interested in, even excited about, what advantages a modular solution could bring.

This, then, is where our journey with Huawei really began and, following on, we enjoyed a number of successful projects together in the government and higher education sectors.

For our customers, the most attractive thing about a Huawei Modular Data Center is that implementation is much, much quicker than building a traditional data center. Operations and Maintenance (O&M) is also far more user-friendly for Information Technology (IT) staff — it's easier and more efficient, too.

The New Data Center Requirements of CIOs

The Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of today are looking for a range of things when it comes to data centers. They want quick deployment, of course, and they also want to maximize how valuable physical space is used. They want to drive down O&M costs too, and they want a longer service life. They also want to see far greater energy efficiency and they want to know that expansion, when the time comes, will be pain free.

Happily for us, a Huawei Modular Data Center Solution answers all such requirements — and more — offering a high level of integration alongside superb security and reliability. The solution also saves space, compared to traditional alternatives, and is energy efficient. As an open system, it also offers very high levels of compatibility and is fast and flexible in terms of installation and deployment. Once up-and-running, O&M is simplified and monitoring is smart.

What we're saying, really, is that this solution can be put into operation faster yet requires less investment, all while definitely delivering more value.

Partnership with Huawei

Over the years of our partnership with Huawei, we have made breakthroughs together and overcome many challenges, all to win more and more projects. We appreciate the commitment and technical resources of Huawei and are proud that we have both grown together.

Today, NetCraft is a four-star Certified Service Partner (CSP) for Huawei data center facilities. But we're not settling there. Our team continues to improve its knowledge using Huawei's online education tools and we also look forward to joining training at Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters, whenever that's possible. Our team is now ready and waiting to help more and more customers in their data centers, beginning with initial consultation then following through to planning, design, construction, and daily operations. And our track record proves our promise: to provide trusted, high-quality services to every customer, big or small.

Looking to the Future

We are excited about what the future working with the Huawei team will bring. We believe in this partnership and are certain that we will grow to become a central, essential player in the Macau data center market.