????該數(shù)據(jù)中心是阿里巴巴在美國(guó)謹(jǐn)慎擴(kuò)張的最新舉措,，該公司也借此進(jìn)入了競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈的美國(guó)云服務(wù)市場(chǎng),。在這里，占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位的是亞馬遜,、微軟和谷歌,。

????阿里巴巴負(fù)責(zé)國(guó)際云業(yè)務(wù)的副總裁喻思成告訴路透社記者，該公司旗下的阿里云打算首先通過該中心為在美國(guó)從事經(jīng)營(yíng)活動(dòng)的中國(guó)公司提供服務(wù),，后者包括零售商,、網(wǎng)絡(luò)和游戲公司；隨后,，該中心將把目光投向希望同時(shí)在中美兩國(guó)開展業(yè)務(wù)的美國(guó)企業(yè),。

????喻思成沒有透露該中心的投資規(guī)模；出于安全考慮,，他也沒有透露該中心的位置,。但喻思成說(shuō)：“這對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)是具有重要戰(zhàn)略意義的行動(dòng)。國(guó)際擴(kuò)張實(shí)際上是我們整個(gè)公司今后幾年的策略,?！?/p>

????“如果客戶有這樣的需求，我們的業(yè)務(wù)最終有可能發(fā)展到美國(guó)的其他地區(qū),，比如東海岸或中部,。”

????人們一直把阿里云比喻為初級(jí)版的亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù),。這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)最初是阿里巴巴內(nèi)部技術(shù)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的一部分，隨后不斷發(fā)展壯大,，目前主要為國(guó)內(nèi)中小型互聯(lián)網(wǎng)企業(yè)提供數(shù)據(jù)處理服務(wù)和存儲(chǔ)空間,。

????阿里巴巴是中國(guó)電商行業(yè)主導(dǎo)者，阿里云在國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)的份額約為23%,，但它面對(duì)的是來(lái)自國(guó)內(nèi)外的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手,，其中有中國(guó)電信這樣的電信運(yùn)營(yíng)商，也有微軟和亞馬遜這樣的海外企業(yè),。阿里云目前在杭州,、青島、北京、深圳和香港設(shè)有數(shù)據(jù)中心,。

????就在阿里巴巴啟動(dòng)美國(guó)云業(yè)務(wù)之際,，美國(guó)企業(yè)和政界人士正在對(duì)中國(guó)政府表達(dá)不滿，原因是他們認(rèn)為后者限制了外國(guó)技術(shù)在中國(guó)的發(fā)展,。

????審查制度觀察組織認(rèn)為,，中國(guó)政府的管制限制了來(lái)自國(guó)外的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，影響了多家公司的在線服務(wù)業(yè)務(wù),，包括谷歌的相關(guān)服務(wù)和亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù),。

????本周，美國(guó)總統(tǒng)奧巴馬對(duì)中國(guó)的反恐新規(guī)提出強(qiáng)烈批評(píng),，稱這些規(guī)定給外國(guó)公司的數(shù)據(jù)管理帶來(lái)了極大困難,。新華社周三對(duì)此做出回應(yīng)，稱奧巴馬的批評(píng)“毫無(wú)根據(jù),，再次體現(xiàn)了美國(guó)外交政策的傲慢和偽善,。”

????另一個(gè)問題也許更為緊要,，那就是阿里巴巴打算怎樣跟亞馬遜,、微軟和谷歌等公司抗衡。為了維持雙位數(shù)增長(zhǎng),，這些公司已經(jīng)下調(diào)了云服務(wù)價(jià)格,。研究機(jī)構(gòu)IDC預(yù)計(jì)，到2017年,，這些企業(yè)所爭(zhēng)奪的公共云服務(wù)市場(chǎng)的規(guī)模有望增長(zhǎng)到1000億美元,。

????如果價(jià)格具有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力，預(yù)計(jì)美國(guó)消費(fèi)者不會(huì)介意這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)由一家中國(guó)公司來(lái)提供,。

????阿里巴巴為阿里云制定了遠(yuǎn)大計(jì)劃,。目前阿里云約占該公司收入的1%，但它為阿里巴巴的核心電商業(yè)務(wù)提供支持,，而且長(zhǎng)期來(lái)看將發(fā)揮關(guān)鍵作用,。阿里巴巴計(jì)劃進(jìn)行大量數(shù)據(jù)匯集和分析工作，其中包括消費(fèi)者行為數(shù)據(jù),，公司認(rèn)為云計(jì)算是實(shí)現(xiàn)這一計(jì)劃的關(guān)鍵,。

????阿里巴巴需要尋找方式，來(lái)維持一直以來(lái)的飛速增長(zhǎng),。周二,，該公司股價(jià)創(chuàng)上市以來(lái)新低，原因是競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手京東的季度業(yè)務(wù)好于預(yù)期,，這讓人們?cè)俅伍_始擔(dān)心阿里巴巴的擴(kuò)張速度正在放慢,。

????The new California data center marks the Chinese company’s latest measured expansion onto American soil, and into a hotly contested U.S. market now dominated by Amazon.com Inc , Microsoft Corp and Google Inc.

????Alibaba’s Aliyun cloud division intends the new data center to cater initially to Chinese companies with operations in the U.S., including retail, Internet and gaming firms. It will later target U.S. businesses seeking a presence in both countries, Ethan Yu, a vice president at Alibaba who runs the international cloud business, told Reuters.

????“This is a very strategic move for us,” Yu said, declining to say how much Alibaba invested in the data center or disclose its location for security reasons. “International expansion is actually a company strategy in the coming few years.”

????“Eventually we may expand to other regions, for example the East Coast or middle part of the U.S., if our customers have the demand for that.”

????Aliyun, which has been likened to a budding version of Amazon Web Services, began as part of the company’s in-house technical infrastructure but has since expanded to lease processing and storage space for small and medium Internet businesses in China.

????While Alibaba dominates e-commerce in China, Aliyun, also known as AlibabaCloud Computing, holds about a 23% market share in its home market. It faces both Chinese and foreign competitors, from carriers like China Telecom to Microsoft and Amazon. Its existing data centers span the Chinese cities of Hangzhou, Qingdao, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

????Alibaba is kicking off its U.S. cloud business as American corporations and politicians are protesting what they see as Beijing’s efforts to curb foreign technology at home.

????Chinese government controls have limited foreign competition and disrupted many online services, including Google’s and Amazon Web Services’, according to censorship watchdogs.

????This week, U.S. President Barack Obama sharply criticized new Chinese counter-terrorism regulationsthat subject overseas companies to arduous measures regarding data management. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua responded Wednesday by calling Obama’s criticisms “utterly groundless and another piece of evidence of arrogance and hypocrisy of the U.S. foreign policy.”

????A more immediate concern may be how Alibaba intends to vie with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google, which are slashing prices on cloud services to try and sustain double-digit growth. They’re battling over a public cloud services market that could grow into an $100 billion industry by 2017, according to researcher IDC.

????U.S. customers are not expected to be bothered by the service’s Chinese ownership if pricing is competitive.

????Alibaba has big plans for Aliyun, which now accounts for about 1% of its revenue but supports its core e-commerce operation and will also play a pivotal role in the long run. Alibaba sees cloud computing as key to its plans to aggregate and analyze the vast quantities of data it collects, including on consumer behavior.

????The company also needs to find ways to sustain so-far stunning growth. Shares in the company fell to their lowest levels since their debut on Tuesday, after rival JD.com’s JD 0.69% better-than-expected quarterly results revived concerns that Alibaba’s expansion is slowing.

????2014年第四季度,，云計(jì)算和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施成為該公司增長(zhǎng)最快的業(yè)務(wù)，銷售額飆升85%,，達(dá)到5800萬(wàn)美元,。

????目前，阿里巴巴絕大多數(shù)收入都來(lái)自中國(guó)市場(chǎng),。近幾個(gè)月,，該公司的擴(kuò)張已經(jīng)在俄羅斯和巴西等新興市場(chǎng)初見成效。但對(duì)于美國(guó)市場(chǎng),，阿里巴巴的態(tài)度一直是再三權(quán)衡,、小心謹(jǐn)慎。

????喻思成指出,，硅谷云計(jì)算中心將服務(wù)于阿里巴巴的全球速賣通業(yè)務(wù)以及外部公共云客戶,。全球速賣通是該公司為國(guó)外買家建立的B2C平臺(tái)。

????他沒有詳細(xì)介紹潛在客戶的情況,。但通常來(lái)說(shuō),，資金緊張的初創(chuàng)型企業(yè)在開展業(yè)務(wù)方面都非常依賴云服務(wù)供應(yīng)商。阿里巴巴已經(jīng)投資多家美國(guó)公司,，包括短信App開發(fā)商Tango,、在線零售商11Main.com、Fanatics.com和Shoprunner,。但還不清楚這些公司會(huì)不會(huì)使用阿里云的服務(wù),。

????此外，阿里巴巴已經(jīng)和P2P借貸平臺(tái)LendingClub攜手,，為美國(guó)在線購(gòu)物人群提供貸款,。

????喻思成透露，在硅谷云計(jì)算中心周三啟動(dòng)前,，阿里云曾為有意涉足國(guó)際市場(chǎng)的國(guó)內(nèi)客戶進(jìn)行了一段時(shí)間的測(cè)試,，參加測(cè)試的僅限于受邀對(duì)象。這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)已于周二正式面向美國(guó)市場(chǎng)推出,。

????喻思成說(shuō)：“我們將逐漸引起國(guó)外客戶的注意力,。實(shí)際上，為數(shù)眾多的美國(guó)客戶和美國(guó)公司都打算在中國(guó)設(shè)立大量的數(shù)據(jù)中心,，以便為他們?cè)谥袊?guó)的客戶提供服務(wù),。”

????“我發(fā)現(xiàn),，美國(guó)客戶的需求確實(shí)很大，他們希望在全球范圍內(nèi)均衡地部署自己的IT基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施,，包括中國(guó),?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：Charlie

????審稿：李翔

????Cloud computing and infrastructure was the company’s fastest-growing business segment in the December quarter, increasing sales 85% to $58 million.

????Alibaba now derives the vast majority of its revenue from China. In recent months it has made headway in emerging markets from Russia to Brazil, but the company has taken a cautious, calculated approach to the U.S. market.

????The northern California data node would serve internal Alibaba businesses, like AliExpress, its online B2C platform for buyers outside of China, as well as external public cloud clients, Yu said.

????He declined to disclose details about potential clients. But cash-strapped startups generally rely heavily on cloud service providers to power their services. Alibaba has invested in several U.S. firms including messaging app Tango, online retailers 11Main.com, Fanatics.com and Shoprunner, but it’s unclear if they would avail themselves of Aliyun’s services.

????Separately, it has also tied up with LendingClub to provide financing to online buyers in the U.S.

????Ahead of Wednesday’s launch, Aliyun ran an invitation-only trial period for customers inChina with international expansion plans, he said. The company began selling U.S. cloud services on Tuesday.

????“Gradually we will start to attract international customers,” Yu said. “There are actually lots of U.S. customers, U.S. enterprises who look forward to setting up lots of data centers inChina to serve their Chinese-based customers.”

????“I do see there is big demand for U.S. customers who look for balanced presence of their IT infrastructure across the world, including China.”