HONG KONG, Sept 24, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – CITIC Telecom
International CPC Limited (CITIC Telecom CPC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of
CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883) and the Hong Kong
Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) have
introduced a jointly developed Augmented Reality (AR) solution designed to
transform field engineers’ operations and maintenance processes. Branded
DataHOUSE AR Remote Hand Service (AR Remote Hand), the solution leverages
wearable Augmented Reality (AR) technology and brings CITIC Telecom CPC’s field
engineers and its customers to a new era, enabling them to slash the time and
cost of troubleshooting and maintenance for achieving better results.
The AR Remote Hand Service employs AR glasses to stream
real-time intelligence, troubleshooting logs, graphics and encrypted data from
back-end systems to on-site engineers and maintenance staff, boosting field
productivity by up to 50%. By wearing the glasses, field engineers do not have
to stop their work to communicate with back-end support teams via a laptop or
phone, nor to refer to a paper manual. The AR Remote Hand provides field
engineers with a heads-up display for remote visualisation in real time as they
install, maintain or troubleshoot equipment, thus speeding up the whole
process.
Global-Local Service Enabler
CITIC Telecom CPC and ASTRI share the same vision in driving
innovation and enhancing customer experience. Through the partnership, both
companies not only take the latest AR technology to the next level, but also
bring those benefits to a wide range of industries.
The new DataHOUSE AR Remote Hand Service meets the growing
customer demand for support in managing the increasing complexity and diversity
of equipment used today in data centres via the state-of-the-art solution. AR
Remote Hand enables field engineers across multiple locations to overcome the
challenges of multiple languages and skillsets in multi-technology
environments; as well as to manage installation and maintenance issues more
efficiently and cost effectively, resulting in improved customer satisfaction.
With the DataHOUSE AR Remote Hand Service, remote support
teams share the same view as on-site engineers which reduces the need for and
expense of travel time. This ability to work effectively from remote locations
is also helping CITIC Telecom CPC’s customers and staff stay safe in the midst
of the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure safe operations and maintain service
infrastructure availability by the global remote service support teams, CITIC
Telecom CPC is using DataHOUSE AR Remote Hand Service in its China Data Center
operations to assure regional customers’ business operations continuity.
“We are delighted to see the results of our strategic
partnership with ASTRI in the launch of AR Remote Hand Service,” said Mr.
Esmond Li, CEO of CITIC Telecom CPC. “The partnership has provided us with
a solution that significantly strengthens our managed services offerings,
greatly enhances the customer experience and is revolutionising the industry’s
operations and maintenance capabilities. DataHOUSE AR Remote Hand is an
innovative remote maintenance service adopted in data centre scenarios, which
leverages AR intelligent operations and maintenance technologies. This is only
the first step and we will not stop here. Through collaborating more innovative
thinking, we expect to enhance the service to cope with more scenarios and
bring more value and better customer experience to enterprises.”
“Our strategic collaboration with CITIC Telecom CPC has
demonstrated the success in leveraging next generation technology in real-life
applications that benefit our people and society, in this case smart industrial
applications and field service management solutions for Hong Kong
enterprises,” said Mr. Hugh Chow, CEO of ASTRI. “We are delighted
that our applied research has proven effective in enhancing CITIC Telecom CPC’s
customer experience, improving operational efficiency and boosting business
resilience, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. ASTRI, as a bridge of
innovation and technology, will continue to strive to create economic value and
societal impact via technology transfer and commercialisation in building a
smarter and safer Hong Kong.”
In their collaboration, ASTRI focused on developing the
software platform and customisation, while CITIC Telecom CPC provided related
information and opinions based on its experience with business cases in various
scenarios and applications. This ensured the solution could effectively address
enterprise customers’ needs across a range of industries. The result is a
solution that offers a wide array of benefits in service provisioning and
remote location visualization and communication capabilities:
Intelligent Service Provisioning without Boundaries
Field engineers managing complex equipment and procedures
for on-site service previously required significant time and effort which
reduced efficiency. Thanks to the innovative wearable AR technology, the AR
Remote Hand service now substantially reduces the time and cost for field
service provisioning while boosting capabilities. Customers can solve problems
faster while minimising downtime and expense.
1.) Intuitive AR-Guided Installation, Troubleshooting and
Maintenance: With AR Remote Hand, field engineers recognise any device with a
designated QR code and access real-time intelligence, graphics, and encrypted
data from back-end systems streamed on-site. Field staff can access virtual
step-by-step guides or even 3D manuals via AR glasses, without the need to
interrupt work to check information on a laptop or in a manual.
2.) Historical Records Analysis: Using a pre-set routine
(e.g. gestures), on-site engineers can review a device’s historical record
(e.g. customers’ network traffic or cloud CPU history), to speed up data
analysis and troubleshooting, while cutting downtime and cost.
3.) Seamless Communication and Collaboration with Back-end
Support: Field engineers previously communicated with back-end support via
email or phone, making it difficult to describe a troubleshooting situation.
Removing distance and language barriers, back-end engineers now view real-time
images streamed via AR glasses through an AR operations console, improving
operational speed and quality. Its powerful video conferencing feature also
offers engineers instant support and fosters off-site collaboration between
global operations and maintenance teams. In addition, back-end engineers can
give field engineers clear instructions via 3D AR labelling.
AR-Enabler Acts as Customers’ Remote Hands
While enterprises promote cross-regional operations and
continuously develop businesses, the kinds of IT equipment used are diversified
with fast upgrades, making daily IT operation and maintenance management
difficult. In the past, maintenance of IT equipment was done by on-site
professionals who would need to investigate and analyse the issues on-site in
order to identify the solutions. However, the experience and capability of IT
staff can vary. When an enterprise’s IT and maintenance staff face situations
they cannot fix or when its professional engineers are not able to go for
on-site support, urgent maintenance can be delayed, compromising the
enterprise’s efficiency and putting it at risk.
In exceptional circumstances, such as the current pandemic,
it’s difficult for enterprises’ IT staff to travel to data centres and manage
their equipment. Equipped with the latest AR glasses development, CITIC Telecom
CPC’s DataHOUSE AR Remote Hand serves as customers’ remote hands. It not only
shows the status of on-site equipment as customers watch in real time from
offices or other locations, but also lets customers to provide live
instructions to CITIC Telecom CPC’s on-site engineers as they troubleshoot
equipment issues without physically being in the data centre.
“At CITIC Telecom CPC, we are constantly innovating to
improve the customer experience,” said Mr. Daniel Kwong, Chief Information
and Innovation Officer of CITIC Telecom CPC. “We plan to extend the AR
Remote Hand service for further customer use and will enlarge the list of
equipment support. Adding AI applications for the AR glasses will be the next
milestone as we work to deliver even more intelligent diagnoses. For example,
when a field engineer sees the status of the target-fixing equipment through
the AR glasses, they will be shown a number of possible causes for the problem,
with each cause ranked with a percentage according to how likely it is to be the
source of the problem.”
Game-Changing Innovation in Algorithm Design
Innovation Never Stops. The innovative AR Remote Hand
solution is the result of the hard work of CITIC Telecom CPC’s data scientists
and R&D experts based in Chengdu, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. In addition to
developing the solution using AR technology, CITIC Telecom CPC’s innovation
team recently received an award that highlights its engineers’ expertise in
data science and algorithm design.
CITIC Telecom CPC’s Data Science professionals won the
“Tianchi Big Data Competition” organised by Alibaba Group in a fierce
competition with over 900 teams from industry leading companies and top
universities. The team helped ELEME Inc., an online food delivery platform, to
optimise their food ordering and delivery with better algorithms to provide the
best routes for their riders with full consideration of the location of food
stores, the time needed for food preparation, traffic on the rider’s route,
service coverage in delivery areas, peak hours for food ordering, and customer
waiting times.
The judges expressed their impression of the team’s
innovative thinking and algorithm calculation results, not only to achieve the
fastest delivery time but also the shortest extra waiting time for customers.
In the future, we expect the algorithm developed by the team will continue to
add value for businesses of different industries and for the social community
in a range of scenarios, such as optimising traffic flow or improving plane
flight paths.
About CITIC Telecom CPC
We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (“CITIC
Telecom CPC”), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International
Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over
by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored
solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM)
private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions,
DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(TM) cloud computing
solutions.
As a leading Global Local ICT Solutions Partner with
worldwide footprint across East to West and native presence, we truly live our
motto, “Innovation Never Stops.” Being a preferred Digital Society
Enabler, we lead our key markets at the forefront of pioneering ICT development,
embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies
to transform technical potential into real-world value for our customers,
helping them achieve higher productivity, agility, cost-efficiency, and
ultimately, Digital Globalization.
As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong
to achieve ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017 ICT-related certifications,
CITIC Telecom CPC delivers on our superior quality commitment through a broad
global self-managed infrastructure encompassing some of the highest growth
markets in Asia, Europe and America, with over 140 points of presence, 18 Cloud
service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations
Centers.
For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com
About ASTRI
The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research
Institute (ASTRI) was founded by the Government of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region in 2000 with the mission of enhancing Hong Kong’s
competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research.
ASTRI’s research and development strategic focus covers five
areas of applications: Smart City; Financial Technologies; Intelligent
Manufacturing; Health Technologies; and Application Specific Integrated
Circuits through its mandate as the Hong Kong branch of the Chinese National
Engineering Research Centre.
Our core competence in various areas is grouped under five
technology divisions, namely Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics;
Communications Technologies; Cybersecurity, Cryptography and Trusted
Technologies; Integrated Circuits and Systems, and IoT and Sensors.
ASTRI seeks to develop technologies that address the needs
of industries, institutions and communities in Hong Kong; as well as nurture
talent to create economic value and societal impact. To date, ASTRI has
transferred more than 750 technologies to the industry and owns more than 850
patents in the Mainland, the US and other countries.
For further information, please visit www.astri.org.
Media Contacts:
Rowena Leung
CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
(852) 2170 7536
Email: rowena.leung@citictel-cpc.com
Jeanette Kwok
Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute
(852) 9103 0633
Email: jeanettekwok@astri.org
