Cloud Storage providers in China: speed test before the big crackdown in 2016

About two weeks ago Chinese public received striking news: most Chinese cloud providers “decided” to discontinue their Cloud Storage services. Major reasons would include government’s involvement regarding illegal content that is stored and shared among citizens, lack of profit from free plans and enormous costs for bandwidth, storage resources, and maintenance.

This article is not about “why did it happen”, but rather: “What can we do now”? Right before most Chinese Cloud providers close their doors, we decided to take a look and test which of them are worth giving a shot for personal or business Cloud storage use.

In the research, we were particularly interested in which ones could upload and download the fastest, not only inside China but also from outside of the GFW – the Great Firewall of China. We tested the most popular Cloud Providers, both Chinese and foreign alternatives.

First, how did we do the test? Simple, we subscribed to almost ALL cloud storage providers we could find and accessed without using a VPN. Foreign providers like Dropbox, Google Drive, or even Microsoft Office 365 OneDrive were not accessible without a VPN, therefore, we listed them as blocked.

We took the same 100 MB zip file and tried to upload/download it in China and then upload/download it in Europe, using the same computers and the same Internet connection to have equal testing conditions and environment. Here is the list with all Cloud Storages speed test results.

See whats next for the Public Sector and Business Sector:

Public Sector

Since the majority of Chinese Cloud providers will be closed by July 30th, 2016, we will be left with only three main giants: Baidu pan, Qihoo 360 and China Telecom Cloud. So first let’s see how they performed among each other.

The first position is occupied by the famous Qihoo 360, with more than 500 million active users of its antivirus software and secure web browser and 67.48 million Yunpan cloud storage users. It offers humongous free 36 TB. Upload and download time in China rounded nearly 1 minute. Outside of China, our archive arrived in the first place with impressive 7 minutes download and 32 minutes upload speed. User interface only available in Chinese though…

Baidu pan has the most users – 383.42 million – and that could maybe explain why it is so freakishly slow both in China and abroad. Even though it gives free 2 TB of space, the download speed in China was 6 minutes where most providers would deliver in under 1 minute, upload was not too bad, but still a whole minute behind others. When it came to downloading from Europe, we were expecting worse results, but 11 minutes were not too bad, whereas upload failed three times in a row.

China Telecom Cloud 天翼云 or otherwise named cloud.189.com took 3 minutes to upload and 2min to download in China. A bit better than Baidu pan, but still behind Qihoo 360. Outside of China the download took 12min and upload 47 long minutes. It is worth mentioning that China Telecom is a state-owned company- whatever it may mean in terms of security…

We have also tried Amazon Cloud Drive where you can get 5 GB of space and English interface. We were surprised by download and upload speed, assuming, that the server might not be located in China, but rather somewhere outside of China. Download speed in China was whole 23 minutes and upload 6 minutes. Abroad it downloaded in 7 minutes as if the server was next door, but to upload back to China took another 23 minutes. You should also take into account that you can only store files on Amazon cloud drive and the option to automatically sync to your desktop is not available.

As for those providers that are going to close down or turn off sharing features, the only one that would deserve a proper burial should be Tencent’s Weiyun, which offers 1 TB for free and has English interface. Actually, within China, its download speed was 20 seconds faster than Qihoo and upload 9 seconds faster. Outside of China Weiyun didn’t perform as fast as within China: download was 29 minutes and upload took whole 42 minutes.

tencents weiyun desktop aplication

Another competitor worth mentioning is 115.com from Dongguan. We were impressed by the very beautiful web interface and phone app. Very user-friendly, and even though it is in Chinese, it was very easy to navigate. In China upload speed took competitive one minute, but download speed was painful and long 21 minutes in the web browser and 33 minutes from the phone app. Outside of China download speed was 36 minutes and upload 28 minutes, which is quite decent compared to others.

At the moment, speed-wise Qihoo 360 would be the only viable solution for personal use between China and abroad. We hope that when those 237 million users have to shift from closed services to either Baidu or Qihoo, the overall bandwidth would not suffer and speed wouldn’t become unbearable. Since the main goal here seems to be to have fewer Cloud Storages to monitor “illegal” activities like keeping and sharing pornography, it is highly unlikely that any new Cloud solutions will enter the market for the common public.

Business Sector

As for Chinese companies, they will most likely stick with Baidu pan or Qihoo 360 for internal file sharing and storage. But what about foreign companies that need to connect to their International branches? In full article 3 best IT practices to connect offices in China we discussed in detail about all the ways that big enterprises and smaller SMEs connect their businesses to China.

With bigger ones it is fairly simple, they use expensive MPLS lines, that connect directly to their HQ abroad, but it gets trickier with smaller businesses that cannot afford 10.000 RMB per month or above for these lines .Most German and EU companies either use solutions that are under the radar from the public, only used by businesses and don’t receive much buzz in public, or common Microsoft Office 365 provided by Chinese partner 21vianet.

NiHao Cloud

IBB Cloud or now (NiHao Cloud ) from a Beijing and Shanghai-based Sino-German ICT company come third on the list. Their cloud file sharing service uses the secure and reliable Seafile technology, and they seem to operate their servers in Asia-Pacific region, while having a special connection to China, and thus performing nearly as good as Qihoo or Wei Yun: In China, the download time was three minutes, and the upload speed was identical to Qihoo – only one minute. The download time abroad was again a couple of minutes longer than Qihoo, but the upload time was two minutes faster.

NiHao Cloud Apps and Web Software

A cool fact about NiHao Cloud is its integrated encryption: Companies using the service can have all their files encrypted on their side, so not even the company that stores the data can read it. This feature is often used by EU or German companies, which are sometimes concerned about the security and confidentiality of Chinese Cloud storage solutions and want to make sure there will be no Intellectual Property leakage from the IT side. All libraries are synced with PCs and can be assigned to specific groups like Finance or HR and accessed with a password.

So even though its download speed may not be the best, it syncs document by document in the background automatically, and you don’t need to download files later: Just open them like any other files in your computer.

Additionally, documents can be locked while working on them, so no one else with an access to the shared folder can edit it at that moment. Later on, you can even review the history of every change that was made on the file. The only downside to this solution is that it is not available for public use and even if it was, it does not operate on a freemium business model like Qihoo 360 or Baidu pan.

You can try a free version that gives you up to 2GB free space and allows you to share files to anyone in the word.

One Drive

Surprisingly, Office 365 OneDrive recently became blocked by the GFW, even though it is operated by a local Chinese partner 21vianet. It was possible to drop files to OneDrive client app and have it synced, but the web access was not accessible without VPN. It seems that only a few companies are chosen to provide Cloud services in China in order to better “manage all the illegal content” on the cloud.

Summary

China is always changing and adapting to the newest technologies, but still keeping its “traditions” to maintain order in its own style also on the Internet. Therefore, if you would like to upload fast and easy a couple TB’s of selfies (with clothes) or other nonsensitive data on theoretically public Chinese Cloud providers, it’s no big deal, it is fast and it is free, for now.

As for businesses, we would recommend looking for foreign Cloud providers with cross border China connections, which are usually much smaller, less known and focus on the international business environment only.

Update: China’s Public Cloud Crackdown is not Over. Update 2017

6 most common mistakes SMEs & entrepreneurs do that result in IP loss in China:

UPDATE: this article is outdated. we have the new version on our new website here.

1. Understanding the IP Legal Landscape.

Many of the “complaints” are made by senior executives who actually do not clearly understand the complexities of IP, nor the mistakes their own companies may have made in protecting it. For example, filling a weak patent application or failing to register their IP at all ( an all-too-common mistake)*

2. Not preparing the way in advance.

Well known IPR lawyer in China, Dan Harris, in his article Protect Your IP From China: It Is Possible? states that your IP has value, and if it can be copied with minimum effort, it will be copied. You must, therefore, prepare for this reality in advance.

3. Believing that since the company has done what is necessary to secure its rights in North America and Europe, there is nothing special they need to do in China. This is a BIG mistake.

When we asked former lawyer Dan Harris, what’s the most common mistake regarding IP loss in China, apart from legal issues, he answered that biggest and most frequent mistake lawyers see is on the IT side where foreign companies/start-ups hire a bunch of people in China to write code. These foreign companies do not form a company in China and do not hire coders as employees. In other words, everything these companies do is illegal. Then, years later when the software is done, Chinese partners just walk off with it and there is nothing the foreign company can do about it because the entire operation was illegal in the first place.

4. Not knowing how to keep your trade secrets safe.

Firstly, what is considered a Trade Secret in China?

In China, a trade secret is any non-public information with actual or potential commercial value which is guarded by confidentiality measures. In order for the information to be a trade secret, it must:

What is a Trade SECRET?

Be non-public – it must not be known by the general public or by competitors;

What is a Trade SECRET?

Have actual or potential commercial value – it must give the owner a competitive advantage or be capable of generating economic benefit;

What is a Trade SECRET?

Guarded by confidentiality measures – the owner must take reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of the information.

It is information that your competitors would want to know and would give them a commercial advantage.

Trade secrets may include recipes or formulas, know-how, the status of products or services under development, valuable business information such as customer lists, cost and price information, suppliers and contractors, contract terms, marketing strategy and plans, etc.

What you need to know about Trade Secrets in Mainland China:

China, like most other countries, provides a legal framework for the protection of trade secrets, and the law provides for remedies in the case that your trade secrets are unlawfully disclosed. Unlike some other forms of IP rights such as patents and copyrights that have a finite term, trade secrets can theoretically enjoy an infinite term of protection as long as the trade secret remains just that – a secret. However, once the information becomes public information, it no longer enjoys any legal protection. As a result, prevention is the golden rule when it comes to protecting your trade secrets, because once the secret is out, there is usually very little that can be done. Keeping trade secrets safe involves using a combination of physical, technical and contractual barriers.

“ Many firms choose to keep their competitive edge by opting not to patent their inventions and trying instead to keep them as trade secrets”

5. Not adopting preventive measures to protect IP loss.

Us-china business council has some great tips on adopting preventive measures and best practices for IP protection in China.

Most important points would include:

Register your IP in China.
Utilize information technology tools to track and protect information: Consider tracking data flows and employee file transfers (both paper and electronic), engage internal stakeholders such as the human resources department in early conversations about developing and implementing policies that monitor employees in this manner.

Closely monitor or prohibit the use of flash disks, portable hard drives, laptops, cell phone cameras, and other devices that could be used to capture and transmit sensitive information.
Establish IT mechanisms to limit employee access to sensitive information, such as separate computer terminals or specialized passwords.

6. Underestimating the importance of proper IT systems to protect IP loss in China.

Bigger companies have their own established IT teams overseas that might be or may not familiar with IT challenges in China, especially with the GFW (the Great Firewall of China). In the article How to choose a right IT company in China, we discuss more closely what every SME should look for when setting up their new IT infrastructure in China.

According to Niels-Uwe Behrens, an IT expert long established in the Chinese IT sector, underestimating the importance of the role of IT in IP protection is a very common mistake:

“ I have been working in IT in China for more than 20 years, but it never stops surprising me how many companies have completely unsecured and open IT systems.”

We asked Niels about the current state of IT security awareness in China: In my experience, I would say that roughly 80% of SMEs in China have at least one or more security issues that could be breached by amateur opportunistic hackers. But in most cases it is not the hackers to be worried about, even though 50-80% of the world’s IP hacks are traced back to China.

“In my experience, there are 2 types of SMEs in China: The first type take security seriously, their IT is set up properly and in a secure way, and their corporate culture prevents any IP leaks.

The second type is less concerned and chooses not to pay much attention to a proper IT set-up since it works as it is. These companies usually adopt the attitude of “real hackers go after big corporations, not small SMEs like us” or “we don’t have any data of such importance that we should encrypt and be overly concerned about security”.

When we think of IP theft we all tend to imagine that there must be some secret hacker organizations that go inside servers rooms and steals secret data in an action movie like fashion. But in reality, everything is much more simple than that. In most cases, especially in China, most trade secrets are stolen by the employees, former or current, who have access to corporate emails or even data server on their personal laptops. In most cases these laptops are not encrypted and can be easily stolen or hacked. Once someone has access to your corporate email or access to the main server, all your important data are at risk of getting out in the open.

This kind of data leaks can be used and will be used to publish your trade secrets or even out-compete your business. Eventually, this event will be registered as one of IP theft cases that are growing ever since 2005.

In China employee fluctuation can sometimes reach up to 75% annually, therefore, tendency of data leakage is very high. In Chinese mentality, it is very common that once employees get fired, they feel some sort of ownership of the work they have been doing for the company, and sometimes even devices like laptops or computers have been taken from the workspace. It’s is also very common that entire databases are copied to USB flash drives and later on used to start new businesses and compete with a former employer.

For security reasons bigger foreign companies tend not to use Chinese social media, such as Wechat, Baidu Cloud or QQ, for file sharing or chatting, since these are constantly monitored by the Chinese government. It is better to keep your most important IP and communications isolated securely in your own private server, maintained by yourself or a trusted third party.

To maintain safe and reliable IT systems many SMEs are turning to managed service arrangements. From HR point of view, it is much cheaper and more effective to outsource most of the technology hassles to dedicated foreign IT experts, rather than looking for own IT specialists. For an economical monthly fee, these SMEs get a whole IT team responsible for maintaining and updating their systems with the latest security patches.

Regardless of your approach to IT security, keep in mind that organizations are increasingly dependent on technology, and it is, therefore, important to be as proactive as possible to keep technologies up to date and secure important data from both external and internal threats that tend to increase every year.