htmlOn August 9th, a day when Songshan Lake in Dongguan was boiling, Huawei Consumer Business CEO Yu Chengdong released the Hongmeng operating system. The Chinese name comes from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and the English name is HArmonyOS, which is not the legendary OakOS before. Yu Chengdong said when introducing the original intention of developing Hongmeng OS: "With the advent of the all-scenario smart era, Huawei believes that it is necessary to further improve the cross-platform capabilities of the operating system, including supporting all scenarios, the ability to span multiple devices and platforms, and the ability to cope with low The ability to overcome latency and high security challenges has gradually formed the prototype of Hongmeng OS. "
The most exciting news is that Hongmeng OS is open source, and the Ark compiler is also open source, and the entire industry will participate. , develop together. The
operating system has become a hot topic since the ZTE incident in April last year and the ban on Android supply. Veteran Dai Hui interviewed academician Ni Guangnan and academician. He was the first in the entire network to summarize various categories of operating systems in China.
In the past few years, China's operating systems have actually made great progress. The gap with the world in terms of server and cloud OS, embedded OS (such as communication equipment is widely used), Internet of Things and Internet of Vehicles OS is not big. , PC OS has also made great progress.
The ecological gap between smartphone operating systems is indeed huge. After the discussion between Lao Dai and Academician Ni, they mentioned an idea in the article: Since the APPs used in domestic mobile phones are basically domestically produced, the domestic mobile phone OS + WeChat applet can be used as a backup for Android in China.
is unfortunately on target! Thirteen months later, on May 15 this year, Huawei was included in the so-called "entity list", and the Google operating system was banned from Huawei. The topic about Huawei Hongmeng OS and Ark compiler suddenly became hot.
The smartphone operating system is the commanding heights of information technology. Out of corporate interests, Google strives to continue to cooperate with Huawei on Android and Fuchsia. However, GMS authority has not been liberalized, and Huawei's overseas sales of mobile phones will also be under pressure. Time will tell us how Huawei and Google will cooperate in the future.
was so popular that I came to sort out Huawei's OS development history. I don’t know if I’m not, I’m shocked if I’m not.
The origin of Huawei's self-developed OS can be traced back to 28 years ago, and it has integrated all three major BGs and two major BUs of Huawei's business!
Chapter 1: Unforgettable 1991
In 1991, on the Nanshan Peninsula on the coast of the South China Sea, there was a century-old story.
At that time, Xu Wenwei (Big Xu) took the lead in developing Huawei's first chip - I forgot to name it, so I called it ASIC.
Huawei explored entering the telecom operator market in 1991. In the process of striving for access (developing JK1000), it also began to develop its own operating system. Xu Wenwei was also the person in charge of R&D.
couldn’t help but curiously asked: Why is it always you! How old are you?! The answer is: There is a "heart" (chip) and a "soul" (operating system)!
About that time, there was a big move in distant Northern Europe.
Finland is the place where there is Aurora and Nokia .
In 1991, Finland made the world's first GSM phone call. China's mobile communications industry is now the strongest in the world, with six of the top ten mobile phone brands in China. Both base stations and mobile phones have developed from GSM. This topic will not be discussed in this article.
In this year, 21-year-old Linus Torvalds, a computer science student at the University of Helsinki in Finland, wrote the disk driver and file system - which became the prototype of the first kernel of Linux, which can be used in Runs on computers using Intel386 series CPU.
Linus disclosed this Linux kernel through the nascent Internet (BBS) using an open source model. With the efforts of countless people around the world, the Linux operating system has deservedly become the greatest open source software in history.
At that time, developers around the world urgently needed an operating system that was free, open, and could be modified as needed. At that time, both Windows and Unix were charged and closed source.
Linux was born at the right time. Rather than saying that "man can conquer nature", it is better to say that "the times create heroes.""A single spark can start a prairie fire", "A fire can start a prairie fire", "A strong fire can make a raging storm", "When the time comes, nothing can stop it", "Right time, right person".
Today, the Linux operating system is everywhere, whether it is embedded, PC, server or cloud, and is compatible with various forms of CPUs, including Intel's x86 architecture , ARM, MIPS, Power, Alpha (Shenwei) and so on.
Linus is known as the "Father of Linux". This title is well deserved! He has a famous saying: Talk is cheap. Show me the code!
In the following 28 years, Huawei and Linux had many intersections.
Chapter 2: The Peacock Flying Southeast
Huawei today is a model for the collective struggle of hundreds of thousands of people. But when you start a business, there are only a few people, so personal abilities are very important. After working at
for three years, Xu Wenwei returned to Southeast University for further studies between 1987 and 1990. He studied as a graduate student in automatic control and studied under Professor Yi Chengbin. "A schoolbag, two bowls, classroom, dormitory, library."
Professor Yi has a great influence in Nanjing's industrial world, with many horizontal cooperation projects. His disciple Da Xu is responsible for specific work. On the one hand, he designs the microcontroller hardware, and on the other hand, he writes embedded software using machine language and assembly language.
Da Xu’s life is the “operating system”. Study and practice ("Multi-tasking system, parallel computing"), get an exceptional monthly allowance of dozens of yuan, and go to the Lin Yan restaurant with a beautiful proprietress on Chengxian Street ("Memory Management") ), converting duck blood fans into burning passion and motivation ("Compilation System"), cold beer invades the body's internal organs and ileum ("Input and Output I/O"; "File Structure"), drinking too much In order to talk some Alibaba nonsense to the moon ("high-level language"), I went back to the Shatangyuan dormitory and lay down among the books ("database").
In the era of planned economy, Nanjing was China's most important center for automatic control and power electronics R&D. Many ministries and commissions had research institutes and enterprises here. I remember that at that time, the automation department of one of my subordinates gave each person a year-end bonus of more than 10,000 yuan, which made everyone covet it! There are now many power electronics companies represented by NARI, Nanzi, and Dongda Jinzhi.
Southeast University is the authentic successor to the engineering disciplines of Central University during the Republic of China.
There is a movie called "Wonderful West and East". During the Anti-Japanese War, the Central University went up the river from east to west to accompany the capital of Chongqing, Chongqing, where it shared the same campus with Chongqing University, but it was a real "west-to-east" campus. In 1924, before going to Tsinghua University, the great writer Rabindranath Tagore first came to Nanjing and gave a speech in the old gymnasium that later became a dance hall. Xu Zhimo waved his sleeves and came to the stage to translate: "I took a ship (from Shanghai) and went up the Yangtze River... As the ship approached Jinling, the morning light was dim, the birds were singing among the trees, and countless sailing boats were sailing straight with the wind, crossing the middle stream steadily. , and feel that this bright and vast phenomenon will be the proportion of the results of sacrifice and struggle for mankind in the future world after going through a state of chaos. "
(Picture note: Tagore took a photo with Xu Zhimo, Lin Huiyin and others during his visit to China)
Let's not talk about it. Xu's heart already belongs to someone, and he doesn't want to worry about singing and dancing. When he has time, he goes to the used electronics market in Confucius Temple. There are piles of used circuit boards and electronic components from abroad, sold by the pound. He can find valuable chips and components, a "treasure hunt game." Use your tongue when choosing a triode. First, use the two test leads of the multimeter to touch the emitter and collector respectively to check the leakage current. Then lick the collector and base with the tip of your tongue to see the change of the pointer to see the magnification factor.
Da Xu later wrote an instruction book on "How to Use a Multimeter and Oscilloscope to Debug a Program-Controlled Switch". I wonder if I also need to use my tongue?
There is also an Honeywell minicomputer imported in 1980 in the computer room. Holes are punched on the paper tape to mark "0" or "1" to input programs and data. The CPU can directly execute it. This is The lowest level machine language.
Well-known foreign company Yilida came to Nanjing to recruit. In early 1990, top student Xu Wenwei and his family came to Shenzhen, a "cultural desert", lived in a farmer's house, and worked in the high-tech department of the Hong Kong company Yilida to develop high-speed laser printers.At about the same time, Ni Guangnan also developed a laser printer and made chips at Lenovo.
In 1990, the genius Huang Zhan wrote a song, which is sung to this day, and it just describes that era: A laugh spread across the sea, the tide surges across the Taiwan Strait, ups and downs follow the waves, just remember the present day. The sky laughs, and the world is flooded with tides. God knows who will lose and who will win.
Chapter 3: In 1992, Huawei developed the first operating system
In the Shenyi Industrial Building next door to Yilida, Huawei was making small switches (commonly known as small switchboards) for enterprise users, and had the underlying software and hardware design capabilities In urgent need of reinforcements, Da Xu joined this startup full of revolutionary pride and tried his best to pry people everywhere. Also coming from Yilida was his friend, Nie Jianlin, a software genius from the 1985 Junior Class of the University of Science and Technology of China. Huawei got its first pot of gold on the small switchboard developed by
A Bao ( Zheng Bao used ). However, the good times did not last long, and this field gradually became a red ocean, with hundreds of similar companies appearing in the country. What China is best at is: bad pricing, so no one makes any money.
Caption: Visiting the United States in 1994, from left Liu Qiwu, Li Yinan, Yang Hanchao, Xu Wenwei, Zheng Baoyong, Li Jian, Mao Shengjiang
The advanced program-controlled switch used by the postal and telecommunications system, seven countries and eight systems, high profits, is a blue ocean.
Domestic manufacturers with core R&D capabilities are also working hard to enter. Li Xiangting, Lao Dai's old leader, graduated from the Computer Science Department of Xinda University. He said that Wu Jiangxing, a young teacher in the department, said arrogantly: "Isn't a program-controlled switch just a computer + a traditional switch?" "Just like Li Shufu's famous saying: "Isn't a car just four wheels and two rows of sofas? "
Wu Jiangxing took 3 million yuan from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and started working, and he really made a dragon! Datang, which was backed by the Tenth Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, was also made, and Ni Guangnan also led Lenovo to also develop it.
Shenzhen is the reform Several companies are also working hard to open up frontiers. The fastest mover is ZTE. Hou Weigui is from Nanjing. He used his hometown and state-owned enterprise background to find Professor Chen Xisheng and Professor Mi Zhengkun of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. These two are Chinese. Leaders in program-controlled switching technology. They sent three young teachers from the teaching and research department to Dameisha to develop 500 program-controlled switches for ZTE Semiconductor. The two teachers went back because their families were in Nanjing, and the bachelor Yin Yimin stayed. Changhong's technology originated from Changchun University of Posts and Telecommunications (now merged into Jilin University ). Sanda, a subsidiary of the central enterprise China Electronics, was also famous.
Huawei is very powerful now, but at that time, Huawei was just a "grassroots team." . Ren Zhengfei, who has studied HVAC and raised pigs, cannot find developers who have graduated from the program-controlled exchange system. Most of them are fresh graduates, and the student flavor has not yet faded away! Guo Ping After poaching Zheng Bao to work for Huawei, A Bao led everyone to fight with gangsters on the street. He was born in a rural area in Fujian and had thick arms.
As far as Lao Dai knew, he was the first to graduate from the communications major. The student should be Wang Cheng from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The boss looked at his resume and said: What? I want it from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications? So Wang Cheng went to ask for help from his classmates and alumni. He later served as the president of the domestic marketing department. His salesman. To enter the Postal and Telecommunications Bureau system,
must first have a production license issued by the state. When Huawei wants to start, there is no quota for 500 units, and there is still a chance of getting through this village. There is no such store anymore.
In order to prevent vicious competition, China often uses licenses to impose restrictions. For example, when GSM and CDMA mobile phone licenses were issued in 1998, Huawei did not apply for them because of its pain. It was impossible to enter the mobile phone industry for many years. Later, the story of satellite set-top boxes and payment licenses was the same.
In the winter of 1991, Huawei established a project team with only a few people (about 10 people) to try to make equipment for operators. We have embarked on the road of no return to dance with the "wolves" of all countries in the world. This is a tragic process of "failure to succeed or success".
The title track from Matthew Lane's melancholic album "Wolf", written in Canada's Yukon Territory, fits the scene perfectly: You would be a sweet surrender, I must go the other way, and my train will carry me onward . Please let me go gently, I must go far away, my train will take me to the end of the world. Time is very tight for
. If it fails to close in time at the end of 1992, there will be no "ticket" to enter the postal and telecommunications system, and there will be no Huawei today. Boss Ren may really go to "raise pigs", and maybe he can create a "Let me do what I want" native pig. Whether the
switching network is empty or digital has no impact on passing the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications's appraisal. It is difficult to achieve more than 500 doors with simulated air separation technology. Daxu organized and developed two 500-door simulated air separation modules that were combined to create 1,000 doors. Some articles on the
network believe that JK1000 did not use a digital screen board as a mistake, and they spread the rumors. This view is wrong. Back in 1991-92, Huawei didn't have many people and guns, and it didn't even have access to Telecom. The primary goal was to grab "tickets," and what it wanted to solve was naturally key needs. For
to enter the postal and telecommunications system, the core is to achieve "program control" at the telecom operator level, that is, a host system that can effectively manage, bill, and promote new services. With extremely limited manpower and material resources, what technical path can the core host system adopt to achieve the goal the fastest? There were 4 options at the time.
and Huawei's previous HJD48 user computer were based on microcontroller and assembly control methods. Although it is also boasted as "program-controlled" to the outside world, it mainly has the function of making phone calls. However, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has many requirements for network access, which cannot be met using assembly language on traditional microcontrollers. , using RISC (reduced instruction) CPU chips, such as the popular Motorola chips at the time. It is difficult to write software in a high-level language (such as C), and writing operating systems and promoting new services will also be difficult. uses a 386-based PC motherboard available on the market (most familiar to computer enthusiasts), which cannot meet the reliability requirements of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and the various interfaces do not match, and there is no way to do hot backup. . Independently design a high-reliability main control board based on the 386 chip (not using the general PC motherboard on the market), support hot backup, develop your own BIOS, and use a high-level language (C language ) + assembly hybrid programming to write the host software . JK1000 finally decided to adopt method 4. This newly developed main control board is also named MPU (main processing unit).
Da Xu is a hardware developer and assembly master, and Nie Jianlin is a C language master. Together, they forged the JK1000 host software system. A hybrid programming method of C language + assembly is adopted.
Note: The core of the host software structure of CC08 is the operating system
Note: The functions of each part of the CC08 host software
JK1000 The core of the host software system is an original embedded operating system based on the command line, all from scratch Developed sentence by sentence. It initially possesses the basic characteristics of an operating system, such as the management and allocation of all software and hardware resources, task scheduling, control, and coordination of concurrent activities.
software testing is a difficult problem. Initially, the host software system hung up at every turn (stopped running or fell into an infinite loop). In order to check where the problem lay, a lot of effort was spent on designing many counters in the program and storing them in a specific location in the memory. . After the computer crashes, check the counter value to analyze and determine where the problem is. Has anyone changed the health value directly in the memory when playing the game?
It is said that Ren Zhengfei often comes to deliver bread and milk to everyone at nine o'clock in the evening, and brags to everyone that "I will make money on the balcony in the future", making him a very good "political commissar" and "instructor".
More than a dozen amateurs, in just a few months, developed the JK1000 (post and telecommunications) office program-controlled switch in the second half of 1992. Huawei really didn't have much money at the time, and Ren Zhengfei himself just rented a small house to live in.
This was also the first time that Da Xu led the team to fight, completing a big "turn" from working hard to looking up and looking at the road.
In the second half of 1992, a town in Haining, Zhejiang Province opened a JK1000 office switch.Da Xu, Nie Jianlin and their R&D colleagues modified the software, compiled, loaded, and ran it on site. This was all the old-fashioned way.
The director of Zhejiang Haining Bureau is very nice. Every fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, he takes all the Huawei people out to watch the Qiantang tide. Everyone's hearts were filled with excitement and thoughts.
Just like that, the JK1000 office program-controlled switch rushed at the last moment, passed the appraisal of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, got the network access certificate, and can be sold! It can be said that this is a "golden key". God bless Huawei, since then Huawei has embarked on a journey of cheating.
Let us take a moment to praise the C language that was born at Bell Labs. C language is a great high-level language, which greatly reduces the pain of programmers writing assembly. It can also create a large number of software function modules and make flexible calls.
writes software in C language, generates assembly code through a C language compiler, and then converts it into binary execution code through the assembler. Programmers need to understand the connection between assembly code and its source C code, because the compiler hides too many details such as: program counter, registers (integers, condition codes, floating point), etc. This is Da Xu's strength.
laid the foundation for the compiler here. Today, Huawei already has the Ark compiler, which can make mobile phones run faster. On August 9, Huawei announced that Ark will be open sourced to the outside world, benefiting the entire industry.
Lao Dai’s C language is Tsinghua University student Lu Li Qimeng. He later also went to Elida and is now the king of mini walkie-talkies in China. The host system of
JK1000 becomes slower and slower with use (the same is true for early Android). Da Xu set it up at 2 o'clock in the middle of the night every day. When no one called, the system automatically restarted, released all resources, and started all over again. It is also known as "the cock crows in the middle of the night". After the successful start of
, the stress was relieved and Da Xu was admitted to the hospital. Only then did I have time to quietly read books on communication principles, and I sighed: It turns out that communication is such a thing, and I have been developing it as an automatic control device! Huawei's style is "get married first, fall in love later, and grow up in a hail of bullets."
Huawei sells JK1000 with great fanfare in post offices across the country. At that time, Western companies were very good and expensive. There are more than 2,000 counties in the country, and the post and telecommunications office in each county has decision-making power.
goes deep into the front lines and surrounds cities from rural areas. This is Huawei's development path. It opened offices in major provincial capitals and initially established a nationwide market system, but it was also very rudimentary. Yao Fuhai arrived in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, found a hotel to stay in, and called the company to tell the company which hotel and room he was staying in. The Taiyuan office was established in this way!
Enterprises in Shenzhen have rich and colorful sales techniques. Ten thousand words are omitted here.
JK1000 sold nearly two hundred units in more than a year, making a lot of quick money. Many articles on the
network said that because JK1000 is an air separation system, Huawei was forced to start the development of the digital system CC08 at the same time, which almost caused the company to collapse and Ren Zhengfei almost "jumped off the building". The real situation of
is exactly the opposite. If the JK1000 card did not obtain the "admission ticket" at the right time, Huawei would not be able to enter the door of telecom operators. Without the nearly 200 sets of JK1000 sold, Huawei would not be able to afford the cost of developing digital phones. More importantly, it would not have the confidence to really engage in telecommunications work. The level of
is not good, please provide services. Yu Weihua, president of the Huayou Club, joined Huawei in 1994 and initially went to Northeast China to provide services. Montenegro, which had a famous defense war, had a JK1000 in a town that was struck by lightning and emitted smoke. The staff who rescued it heroically were fainted by the smoke. He rushed to the scene and found it difficult to repair. Director Su Wei gave instructions: Don’t leave any “evidence of guilt” and issue new machines immediately! Immediately find a trolley to pull them all away, and "dig a hole deep to bury them"! The new phone has arrived. Lightning protection and flame retardancy are process issues that have nothing to do with communication technology. The lightning protection and grounding of township computer rooms back then were really not good. Huawei has gained a foothold and customer understanding with its rapid response that goes deep into Heishanbaishui. Lightning protection is a common problem, and it took Huawei some years to finally solve it with difficulty.
Chapter 4: Moderate innovation, steady progress, and move forward step by step
JK1000 development success was in sight, Huawei started the development of the digital machine CC08 A-type machine.The host system completely inherits the technical route of JK1000, and the hardware focuses on solving the technical problems of digital network boards. As the person in charge of the device room, Daxu was also at the forefront.
In 1993, after the successful development of the A-type machine, the development of the Wanmen machine was continued (the C-type machine and the subsequent finalized B-type machine). The main technical problems solved this time are two. One is to improve the integration and capacity of the digital network board by designing its own chips, and the other is to realize the connection between multiple modules through optical modules.
can see that Huawei’s successful experience is to control the innovation workload of each product development within a certain proportion to ensure that each product can be commercially sold. Take it step by step, work steadily, and advance layer by layer, rather than expecting to become a fat man in one bite.
Later, Ren Zhengfei said in his speech "Entrepreneurship and innovation must focus on improving the core competitiveness of enterprises": We proposed that in the development of new products, we should try our best to reference the mature technologies already owned by the company, as well as technologies that can be purchased from the society. , the utilization rate is lower than 70%, and the new development volume is higher than 30%. Not only is it not called innovation, but it is waste. It will only increase development costs and increase product instability.
As we get older, we may not always remember the recent events, but the long-dusted past events come to mind from time to time. In the early years of
, the host software was a big package. Every time it was upgraded as a whole, it was reset and restarted. Unlike Western companies, errors can be corrected through patching. In order to solve online problems, sometimes several versions will be published in an afternoon, such as the three o'clock version, the five o'clock version, and the seven o'clock version.
In order to achieve a quick reset and restart of the entire system, Daxu used FLASH flash memory technology. First, load the new version of the host software on the flash memory of the backup MPU, restart the MPU, and then switch between the active and standby MPUs. The whole process takes one second. The system was reset successfully, which can be called "light speed"! This technology was often touted by Lao Dai when he later sold mobile GSM.
Lao Dai had a classmate named Zou. He graduated in 1997 and went to ZTE Communications to develop program-controlled switch cores. He suddenly allocated a handful of stocks before ZTE went public. ZTE went public on Singles' Day on November 11, 1997, and he made a lot of quick money at lightning speed. To celebrate his fortune, Lao Dai also went to Liantang for a while, and heard him mutter: Memory management is the most troublesome technical issue in the program-controlled switch host system.
Wang Yingjun, who joined Huawei in 1997 with Lao Dai, rented a farmer's house in Men Village, Guangdong Province. Later, he became one of the giants of Huawei's core network. In 1998, everyone was excitedly exchanging Hong Kong films and talking about technology. He read all the host software codes, which were written in C language. The core is a DOS-based operating system based on the command line. He said that the scariest thing is that there are a bunch of global variables, which are extremely painful to track. As a core tester, he once went to PK with ZTE Communications and modified the internal parameters overnight to compile the software overnight, so that the CPU occupancy rate was lower under the same load. CPU occupancy is a core indicator. The current CPU occupancy of Lao Dai’s typing computer is 77%.
Wang Yingjun studied chemistry, but he was not interested in this major at all, so he took the exam to be a senior programmer and fell into the "01010101" pit. A few years ago, we planted vegetables together at Xili's farm. He no longer talked about Hong Kong movies with me. Instead, he talked about poetry and the future. Being a leader is different.
Zeng Haowen, a disciple of Professor Mi Zhengkun of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, is Yin Yimin’s junior brother. After graduating in 1997, he came to Huawei. He started as a development engineer and became the R&D leader of the 128-mode CC08, the last version of CC08, at the turn of the century. Claimed to be able to support millions of users, Huawei has ranked first in the world in sales for a single product, narrowband digital program-controlled switching, for the first time. Zeng Haowen remembers a saying at the time: Huawei does not want to be the number one in the world, but it has to be on the road to becoming the number one. What’s interesting about
is that after the first version of the 128 module was launched, many bugs were discovered, making modifications very troublesome, so the entire system code was rewritten. GSM has done the same thing. Does
have anything to do with Windows? The core front-end host software (including operating system) of
has indeed never had anything to do with Windows, but there is also a BAM module (backend management unit) on CC08 that can be used.Even if the BAM module is turned off, the front-end host software of CC08 is still running. BAM later evolved into OMC, and Zheng Yelai, head of Huawei Cloud BU, was the development leader of OMC at that time. First-line OMC application software occasionally has minor flaws. Veteran Dai Hui went to report it, and the OMC interface person responded with a ridiculous answer: It is a compatibility issue with your foreign Windows version, and it has nothing to do with us!
Finally, let’s talk about the business model of software sales, which is closely related to host software. In the early years of
, the host system software did not have license control, and upgrades and software services were free. As long as customers continue to buy Huawei equipment, everything is easy to negotiate.
html In 104, I went to the Indonesian operator and found that Siemens service personnel came once a month to see how many users had increased online, so they issued an invoice to the operator and charged a lot of money, but Siemens really had nothing. Come on, how can you collect money?Xu Zhijun (Xiao Xu) established a strategy and business model department with MKT to study industry practices and began to engage in "inventory charging". License control is carried out by user and function. Annual software maintenance and upgrades are also charged together. Annual software service fee. Huawei's technical support department has gained huge benefits as a result. Zeng Xiangsen and Wang Haijun successively served as heads of this department. At that time,
mainly made money by selling hardware. Unexpectedly, today, software license is the real money maker. Because after all core networks are cloudified, the underlying hardware becomes a general-purpose server that can be sold by anyone, and the gross profit becomes as thin as a piece of paper.
Chapter 5: The OS of the core network has become the basis for the entire development of Huawei
During the recent Sino-US trade friction, everyone has noticed the term "5G core network". The United States has paid a lot of attention to the core network, which shows that this is a very important network equipment. Functionally speaking, the
core network not only serves landlines (fixed phones), but also serves mobile phones, including 2G/3G/4G/5G, etc. When it specifically serves 5G, it is called the 5G core network. The
core network has undergone great changes in terms of hardware and operating system in recent years.
TDM (time division multiplexing) architecture is traditionally called a digital program-controlled switch. When Liu Jiangfeng and were developing GSM, MSC (equivalent to mobile program control) and BSC (base station controller) were both based on the CC08 platform.
IP. is an IP-based softswitch architecture, also called NGN (Next Generation Network). There are two generations of hardware: cPCI (box type) and ATCA (blade type).
IP+IT. IMS (IP Multimedia System) architecture. The hardware has since become an x86 universal server, and the software architecture has changed significantly.
is fully cloud-based, NFV (network function virtualization).
The real-time operating system of Huawei's core network has undergone four technological changes.
1. 28 years ago, Daxu and the others developed their own operating system bit by bit starting from the bottom.
Those small companies in the West that make RTOS (real-time operating system) kernels just started with two or three people in the 1980s, and have not yet affected China. It's expensive, and it costs US dollars, and Huawei, a small company, simply can't afford it.
2, In the mid-to-late 1990s, integrating into the global advanced technology trend, CC08 also developed an embedded real-time operating system based on pSOS and VxWorks microkernel. In the
CC08 128-module host system, the SPC module uses pSOS, and the PPC and CPC modules use VxWorks.
The American Wind River Company, which owns the VxWorks kernel, also acquired pSOS and was eventually merged into Intel. Huawei's main processor has therefore long used Intel's x86 architecture.
Nokia and Ericsson also adopt a similar approach and are both customers of VxWorks.
Cisco is based on the QNX core and is QNX's largest customer outside the automotive field. Lao Dai is in Ottawa today, where QNX is headquartered. QNX was founded in 1980. A group of people have been working on it for decades, constantly adapting to various scenarios. It has excellent real-time performance, stability and compatibility. QNX has a very high market share among traditional automotive OSs. Reaching about 80%.QNX was later sold to BlackBerry, the once brilliant mobile phone brand.
The basic theoretical research of Huawei 5G was also carried out in Ottawa led by Dr. Tong Wen, Huawei’s chief scientist of 5G.
Note: Veteran Dai Hui worked at Huawei Ottawa Research Institute
3. Starting in 2007, Huawei successfully implemented a real-time operating system based on the open source embedded Linux kernel.
This is a big progress for the Linux camp and Huawei.
In fact, Wind River itself is also vigorously promoting the embedded Linux kernel. Yao Yiyu, chief architect of the
core network platform, wrote an article called "Getting up from the mud pit".
In 2007, the core network switched from the cPCI platform to the ATCA platform in terms of soft switching hardware architecture, but still used Intel's x86 CPU. The biggest change is in the operating system. Starting from the ATCA architecture, a lot of optimizations have been made to develop an embedded real-time operating system on embedded Linux, and it has replaced the previous embedded real-time operating system developed based on pSOS and VxWorks kernels.
optimizes and solves the latency of Linux, bit by bit, and finally successfully reduces the latency to a very low level. Last time I heard a drone company talk about their development experience, they also had to reduce the weight of the aircraft gram by gram. This is a great victory for
. It finally successfully created the first company-level telecom Linux operating system, which was subsequently extended to the VRP of the data communication product line. Not only did it save money, it also greatly improved my capabilities. Huawei has also made huge historical contributions to the international embedded Linux open source camp.
According to Ren Zhengfei’s philosophy, if the core of a technology is algorithms and logic, Huawei can solve it through hard work. Therefore, in the automotive BU, Huawei does battery management BMS (the core is algorithms and logic), but does not make batteries (the core is chemistry and materials). Ren Zhengfei strongly called on the country to cultivate more mathematicians.
and introduce a new level: cloud computing, and the new architecture is called NFV (Network Function Virtualization). The original RTOS remains unchanged. is in the same vein as Huawei's Fusion Sphere cloud computing operating system, which adopts various technologies such as KVM virtualization engine (also belonging to the Linux camp), Docker containers, K8S (Kubernetes), etc.
cloud technology brings opportunities for CPU switching and the introduction of ARM servers in the core network, which will be discussed later.
Chapter 6: The birth of Hongmeng RTOS
As you can see, Huawei's OS has gone through multiple processes such as independent development, RTOS development based on pSOS and VxWorks microkernel, and open source embedded Linux macro kernel development. This laid the foundation for the birth of Hongmeng. Developed a strong technical foundation and understanding.
There is a very important person, his name is Wang Chenglu. He first served as president of the core network product line and accumulated experience in core network OS (implemented RTOS based on embedded Linux). Later, he was transferred to the President of the Central Software Department of the 2012 Laboratory and launched Hongmeng’s research. There is a conversation on the Internet between Ren Zhengfei and 2012 Lab employees in 2012, which shows that Huawei developed the mobile operating system as a "spare tire." The questioner Li Jinxi came from the Terminal OS Development Department of Euler Laboratory of the Central Software Institute under the 2012 Laboratory, which is responsible for building terminal operating system capabilities for consumer BG.
Wang Chenglu finally went to Consumer BG as the software president. His article "The Past of Huawei Mobile Operating System" mentioned that Huawei's optimized F2FS file system has overcome the traditional fragmentation defects of Android and has been absorbed by Google's Android system. "Born fast, life is fast." File systems are an important part of mobile phone and PC operating systems.
Note: At the Developer Conference on August 9, Wang Chenglu released EMUI 10
Mr. Ren Zhengfei had a brilliant quote about the Hongmeng operating system: We have thousands (note: types) of circuit boards, and each circuit board must have an operating system. Hongmeng operating system is an operating system for deterministic latency systems. The end-to-end processing latency of the system is accurate to 5 milliseconds, or even lower millisecond level or even sub-millisecond level. It can control only such a small delay, which is suitable for automatic production of the Internet of Things. it works. For example, in driverless driving, the delay in turning gears is a few milliseconds. If it is inaccurate, otherwise this gear will come and that gear will not be able to engage before it comes.We are an operating system for the Internet of Everything and the future of a smart society.
It can be seen from Mr. Ren Zhengfei’s words that Hongmeng may also be used in system equipment in the future.
Chapter 7: Huawei operating system spectrum
Based on the OS of the core network, Huawei's operating system is in full bloom, connecting all three major BGs of Huawei's business (operators, enterprises, and consumers including mobile phones) and two major BUs ( cloud computing, automobiles).
In the Chinese operating system group portrait I described last year, Huawei's series of operating systems have been listed. The supplement is summarized as follows:
1, router and data communication switch operating system: VRP (Universal Routing Platform), which is another Huawei OS Mainline
In 1996, Huawei's CC08 was sold in full swing. Huawei had food in its warehouse and began research and development of data communications in its Beijing research institute.
Huawei's VRP should be a real-time operating system developed based on the VxWorks microkernel of the American Wind River Company. Tornado is a real-time operating system (RTOS) development environment launched by Wind River. It is similar to Microsoft Visual C, but provides a richer debugging and simulation environment and tools. There was also a peer, pSOS, which was later acquired by Wind River.
On January 23, 2003, Cisco accused Huawei of infringement in the United States. During the course of the lawsuit, it was discovered that Huawei's VRP system was much smaller and more efficient than Cisco's IOS.
is no different. Cisco's IOS is actually a real-time operating system developed based on the QNX kernel.
A few years ago, after the core network OS adopted the open source embedded Linux kernel to implement RTOS, Huawei Data Communications' VRP has also adopted the embedded Linux kernel.
has a very important field in mobile communications: PS domain (packet switching system), such as GGSN/SGSN, etc., whose function is to process IP data packaging and exchange in 3G/4G/5G systems. Nowadays, everyone basically uses their mobile phones for data traffic instead of making calls, so the PS domain is getting bigger and bigger. PS is closely related to RAN (radio access network, base station, etc.), so Huawei internally classifies PS directly within the wireless product line (RAN) all year round.
Huawei’s 3G/4G/5G PS domain is based on its own data communication switches, so it also uses the VxWorks microkernel.
In the security review of Huawei systems in the UK in August 2018, it was believed that the VxWorks system adopted by Huawei will not be able to receive security patches and upgrades after 2020, posing security risks.
But actually, this is not a problem.
On the one hand, Huawei's data communication switches have developed their own RTOS based on the embedded Linux kernel. Even for Wind River, the official website also introduces the success story of British Telecom's RAN (radio access network) using Wind River's embedded Linux. On the other hand, Hongmeng’s microkernel can also be used as a spare tire.
2, cloud computing operating system: Fusion Sphere. initially used the XEN virtualization engine and is now moving towards KVM.
3, server operating system : EulerOS, will be open source and make progress together with the world.
4, IoT embedded operating system: LiteOS. is super lightweight and open source.
Communication guru Wu Hequan believes: "AIoT is the development direction of IoT, and IoT needs AI to enhance its value. 5G is the bridge connecting AI and IoT. Its high bandwidth, high reliability, low latency, and large connections have opened up a wider field for AIoT. Application areas. "
5, automotive and driverless operating systems: Hongmeng. Yu Chengdong announced that Hongmeng is open source. It is the best way to absorb global wisdom through open source.
6, smartphone, TV operating system: Hongmeng. Everyone talks about a lot.
7, Ark compiler. The Ark compiler is not the operating system itself, but on the one hand it can improve the running efficiency of the compiled operating system program (the mobile phone runs faster), on the other hand it greatly facilitates the porting of APP business to Hongmeng, the original Android application (APP) As long as you make small changes, you can compile it through the Ark compiler and run it on Hongmeng.
A flower blooming alone is not spring. Over the past 30 years, Huawei has cultivated many talents for society, and there are also many people in the entrepreneurship department who work on operating systems.UCloud, founded by
A and Ji Xinhua, is the only public cloud that has grown independently without relying on a large industrial background. It became an instant hit because of its "Dota Legend" mobile game cloud business. UCloud is the first public cloud to be developed based on the open source KVM engine, even earlier than Alibaba Cloud.
B and H3C are separated from the Huawei system. From now on, the VRP operating system has "two flowers blooming, one on each side". The OS of the H3C system is named Comvare.
C and Uniview were separated from H3C. Imos Inside is the trademark of Uniview Security OS. Intel believed that Imos Inside infringed Intel Inside's trademark, but failed to obtain support from the court. Jinghua Science and Technology, founded by
D and Zeng Haowen, is the first independent desktop cloud OS in China. It is the first to adopt the KVM virtualization technology route and has successfully entered the navy, land and air force.
Chapter 8: Once you master the operating system, you won’t be afraid of CPU jams
On May 15, Huawei was included in the entity list, and Intel’s CPU supply to Huawei was once cut off. Dai Hui, a veteran of
, boldly predicted that this would not have a big impact on Huawei. Because after Huawei controls the operating system, the lower-level CPU can be flexibly switched.
In the field of data center (and cloud) servers, Intel occupies more than 95% of the market share.
Due to historical reasons (this history has been introduced in this article), the current global telecommunications core network uses Intel's x86 architecture universal server.
Because the telecom core network operating system is controlled by Huawei, and the upper-level business and ecology are also controlled by Huawei, servers in this field can completely convert from x86 architecture to Arm architecture.
Huawei has to do this. On January 7 this year, Huawei released its first ARM architecture server CPU Kunpeng chip and Taishan server. The publisher was Xu Wenwei. Through container technology, multiple Taishan servers (using Arm CPU) can be formed into a large server cluster for use on the telecommunications core network.
Looking back at Linux, the earliest version was only based on x86. Later, it also supported various CPU architectures such as Arm, Power, and MIPS across platforms.
We will turn our attention to Tencent . WeChat's server cluster basically runs on the Android and IOS ecosystems. Technically, it can also use Arm server clusters instead of the previous x86 server clusters.
In the field of telecommunications billing, Huawei has already had successful cases.
In the early morning of July 19, 2019, after an intense and orderly cutover, the software and hardware of Shandong Mobile's billing CRM system were successfully replaced and upgraded, becoming the first operator to adopt a complete set of domestically developed software and hardware solutions in the core system. , taking a solid step on the road of independence and control. Huawei's self-developed series of IT software and hardware: TaiShan server based on Kunpeng 920, GaussDB Gaussian database, and server operating system EulerOS.
Earlier, at the end of 2017, Academician Ni Guangnan disclosed it. The Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation's "Shangmi Network" was the largest information system composed of domestically produced software and hardware at the time. It had deployed 20,000 domestically produced desktop computers and was provided with cloud services by domestically produced servers including the "Aerospace Kunlun Database All-in-one Machine". services, and introduced secure mobile phones using the Aerospace Yuanxin mobile operating system to support mobile office.
For personal computers, Intel also faces challenges from Arm. Last summer, in the Microsoft store of Silicon Valley , I saw an always on laptop built by Lenovo Lenevo that uses Qualcomm's Arm-based CPU and Microsoft Windows. HiSilicon has also recently started making CPUs for laptops based on the Arm architecture, and we are looking forward to it.
Conclusion: Innovation never ends
At the 2019 Southeast University graduation ceremony, Xu Wenwei, who forged Huawei's first chip and first OS, spoke:
"What Huawei has been insisting on since its founding is innovation. Over the past 30 years, , Huawei's success is based on technological innovation and engineering innovation based on customer needs, helping customers successfully innovate solutions and achieve commercial success. This kind of innovation is what we call Huawei Innovation 1.0. The rapid development of the information industry over more than 50 years has been theoretically carried out. and engineering have encountered development bottlenecks, we need theoretical breakthroughs, and we need innovation from 0 to 1.
"Huawei officially announced that it has entered Innovation 2.0. The core of Innovation 2.0 is theoretical breakthroughs and basic technology inventions based on vision, and one of the sources of theoretical breakthroughs and basic technology inventions is academia, in universities, and among all of you here."
column editor: Wang Haiyan text editor: Wang Haiyan
