咫尺天涯

????2001年情人節(jié)（Valentine's Day）這天，華為公司首次進(jìn)入美國(guó)市場(chǎng)。當(dāng)時(shí)，由公司高級(jí)副總裁陳朝暉領(lǐng)隊(duì)，一小組公司員工來(lái)到了德克薩斯州的普萊諾市，成立了公司的第一個(gè)美國(guó)辦事處。陳朝暉回憶道：“當(dāng)時(shí)，我的英語(yǔ)說(shuō)得很差，也不會(huì)開(kāi)車。我們當(dāng)時(shí)要先找住的地方，大約有四五個(gè)人吧。根本沒(méi)有一點(diǎn)頭緒。了解當(dāng)?shù)厥袌?chǎng)和確定策略都非常困難?！?/p>

????大約三年之后，華為CEO任正非來(lái)到德克薩斯州，視察他的“先遣隊(duì)”。陳朝暉表示，當(dāng)時(shí)華為還沒(méi)能與哪怕一家美國(guó)客戶簽訂合同，幾乎沒(méi)有人知道它的名字。（當(dāng)時(shí)公司在美國(guó)的注冊(cè)名稱是“Futurewei”，這原本是為了簡(jiǎn)單起見(jiàn)，但最后卻適得其反。）任正非給員工提出了幾點(diǎn)建議。陳朝暉稱：“他當(dāng)時(shí)說(shuō)：‘我們要像針一樣扎進(jìn)來(lái)。把所有精力集中在一款產(chǎn)品和一個(gè)客戶身上，然后尋找突破，一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)打開(kāi)知名度。’”

????從那一年開(kāi)始，華為便開(kāi)始不斷向美國(guó)投入資源。目前，公司在普萊諾的辦公室也已經(jīng)擴(kuò)大到100，000平方英尺的大樓，成為公司在北美地區(qū)的總部。華為還在美國(guó)成立了12家分支機(jī)構(gòu)和7個(gè)研發(fā)中心，包括在加利福尼亞州圣克拉拉市新近成立的研發(fā)中心，目前在美國(guó)的員工人數(shù)超過(guò)1，100人，其中75%是美國(guó)人（華為在美國(guó)的公司中，只有200名中國(guó)籍員工）。因此，要成為美國(guó)電信行業(yè)主要參與者，華為已經(jīng)具備了良好的基礎(chǔ)。

????競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手極力將華為排擠在大額合約的競(jìng)標(biāo)之外的原因很現(xiàn)實(shí)：利潤(rùn)。盡管美國(guó)運(yùn)營(yíng)商在電信設(shè)備上的開(kāi)支約占全球開(kāi)支的15%，但他們的利潤(rùn)比卻為25%。這是因?yàn)?，美?guó)電信設(shè)備的毛利潤(rùn)率為45%到50%。2004年底，華為進(jìn)入歐洲市場(chǎng)之前，愛(ài)立信和阿爾卡特-朗訊的毛利潤(rùn)率也能達(dá)到這個(gè)比例。但德國(guó)漢堡貝倫貝格銀行（Berenberg Bank）分析師的一份名為《中國(guó)式水刑》（Chinese Water Torture）的報(bào)告顯示，在華為進(jìn)入歐洲市場(chǎng)并強(qiáng)力競(jìng)標(biāo)之后，他們的利潤(rùn)率迅速下降到30%到35%。而新技術(shù)的推出則使它成為更加可怕的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，因?yàn)檫@項(xiàng)技術(shù)可以為消費(fèi)者大幅降低成本。例如，華為推出的SingleRAN設(shè)備可以處理多種信號(hào)類型——2G、3G、WiMax、CDMA、GSM等，這一切僅僅需要一套設(shè)備，運(yùn)營(yíng)商不必針對(duì)不同信號(hào)建立單獨(dú)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

????據(jù)業(yè)內(nèi)人士稱，去年秋天，當(dāng)斯普林特公司為升級(jí)網(wǎng)絡(luò)進(jìn)行招標(biāo)時(shí)，華為公司開(kāi)出的條件能讓運(yùn)營(yíng)商在運(yùn)行的第一年就可在目前成本的基礎(chǔ)上節(jié)省8億美元。但在亞利桑那州共和黨人、參議院?jiǎn)潭?科爾的帶領(lǐng)下，部分國(guó)會(huì)議員發(fā)起了一場(chǎng)“上書活動(dòng)”，要求斯普林特公司拒絕華為的投標(biāo)。而且，據(jù)報(bào)道時(shí)任美國(guó)商務(wù)部部長(zhǎng)的駱家輝致電斯普林特公司CEO丹?漢斯，表達(dá)了自己對(duì)國(guó)家安全的“深切擔(dān)憂”。最終，價(jià)值50億美元的招標(biāo)被愛(ài)立信、阿爾卡特-朗訊和三星公司（Samsung）瓜分?？茽柡婉樇逸x均拒絕對(duì)此事發(fā)表評(píng)論。

????最終做出合同決定的是斯普林特公司負(fù)責(zé)網(wǎng)絡(luò)事務(wù)的高級(jí)副總裁鮑勃?阿茲，他甚至否認(rèn)華為曾參與過(guò)競(jìng)標(biāo)。他說(shuō)，進(jìn)行網(wǎng)絡(luò)升級(jí)需要考慮多方面的成本和因素——包括像新技術(shù)的過(guò)渡——但商務(wù)部的警告并不包括在內(nèi)。他堅(jiān)決表示：“沒(méi)有人告訴我該怎么做。我們自己根據(jù)當(dāng)時(shí)的商業(yè)環(huán)境進(jìn)行決策，這是我們的底線。我們自己確定成本；我們自己確定利益。就是這么回事。”

????華為團(tuán)隊(duì)倍受打擊——他們一直信心滿滿，認(rèn)為他們可以說(shuō)服斯普林特與他們簽署在美國(guó)的第一個(gè)一級(jí)合同。為了提高成算，華為甚至與一家名為Amerilink Telecom的公司建立了合作伙伴關(guān)系。該公司由美國(guó)參謀長(zhǎng)聯(lián)席會(huì)議（Joint Chiefs of Staff）副主席、海軍上將比爾?歐文斯領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。他也曾在北電網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司擔(dān)任過(guò)CEO。歐文斯表示：“在我看來(lái)，美國(guó)拒絕（讓斯普林特同意華為獲得該業(yè)務(wù)）是一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的錯(cuò)誤。華為向斯普林特、美國(guó)政府，向所有人都公開(kāi)了公司的源代碼。如果是北電，我絕不會(huì)向任何人，尤其是美國(guó)政府公開(kāi)源代碼。這件最終以這樣的結(jié)局收?qǐng)鼋^對(duì)是大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)?！?/p>

機(jī)會(huì)依然存在

????或許華為還沒(méi)有獲得美國(guó)大型運(yùn)營(yíng)商的信任，但在中等規(guī)模電信公司中，它的銷售勢(shì)頭卻異常迅猛——銷售的產(chǎn)品從核心基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施到消費(fèi)設(shè)備。去年，華為在北美地區(qū)的收入達(dá)到7.65億美元，比前一年的總收入翻了一番還多。其中一個(gè)重要的客戶是Leap公司，該公司從高通公司（Qualcomm）分拆出來(lái)，目前是美國(guó)第七大無(wú)線運(yùn)營(yíng)商。2006年，Leap公司首次購(gòu)買了華為的3G設(shè)備，2007年又購(gòu)入了基站，2010年采購(gòu)了調(diào)制解調(diào)器。目前，該公司在銷售華為出產(chǎn)的價(jià)格低廉的Ascend安卓系統(tǒng)智能手機(jī)。T-Mobile公司也在出售華為的Ascend手機(jī)。華為推出的名為IDEOS S7的7寸安卓系統(tǒng)平板電腦也開(kāi)始在百思買集團(tuán)（Best Buy）銷售。該款平板電腦售價(jià)不到300美元，頗受部分消費(fèi)者的青睞，畢竟他們不想花昂貴的價(jià)錢購(gòu)買一臺(tái)iPad。

????其中部分新業(yè)務(wù)的達(dá)成路徑為頗耐人尋味。比如，華為的另外一個(gè)大客戶是無(wú)線互聯(lián)網(wǎng)提供商科維公司（Clearwire），而頗具諷刺意味的是，斯普林特公司在科維公司擁有多數(shù)股權(quán)。此外，科維公司與斯普林特公司達(dá)成了合作協(xié)議，負(fù)責(zé)斯普林特公司的4G業(yè)務(wù)，而最終采用的設(shè)備又恰恰是由華為生產(chǎn)的?？凭S公開(kāi)承認(rèn)華為之前便是其WiMAX供應(yīng)商，目前是其4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)供應(yīng)商，除此之外，并未發(fā)表其他評(píng)論。

????華為的另外一個(gè)客戶是Level3通信公司，該公司負(fù)責(zé)美國(guó)200多個(gè)政府部門的安全信道通信，也是美國(guó)的國(guó)防承包商，推出了跨越美國(guó)和西歐的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)轉(zhuǎn)接網(wǎng)絡(luò)，該網(wǎng)絡(luò)被稱為互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的主干網(wǎng)絡(luò)。盡管Level3公司與華為均未透露有關(guān)交易的任何內(nèi)容，但業(yè)內(nèi)人士和分析師均確認(rèn)，Level3采購(gòu)了華為的設(shè)備。一位業(yè)內(nèi)人士稱：“采購(gòu)的產(chǎn)品是基站，核心交換設(shè)備——都是那種能讓人提心吊膽、夜不能寐的設(shè)備?！盠evel3回應(yīng)稱，為客戶保密是公司的首要任務(wù)，但對(duì)于“網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全問(wèn)題，公司沒(méi)有發(fā)表評(píng)論?！?/p>

????或許是由于網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全問(wèn)題，因此華為公司的大部分客戶都對(duì)華為的事情諱莫如深。但有一家客戶卻非常樂(lè)意發(fā)表自己的意見(jiàn)，他便是東北無(wú)線網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司（Northeast Wireless Networks）的創(chuàng)始人兼CEO羅伯特?帕斯洛。該公司正在為緬因州和俄勒岡州等偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)安裝設(shè)備，以提供更高效的蜂窩接入和無(wú)線寬帶。他說(shuō)，華為的SingleRAN產(chǎn)品能夠處理斯普林特的CDMA和AT&T的GSM技術(shù)，以及加拿大的微波互聯(lián)接入技術(shù)。對(duì)于這一點(diǎn)，他給與了高度贊揚(yáng)。帕斯洛曾在朗訊任職，他說(shuō)：“這是最優(yōu)秀的解決方案，也是我為什么對(duì)華為設(shè)備如此著迷的原因。單從技術(shù)來(lái)看，他們的確稱得上是目前行業(yè)中的真正領(lǐng)袖?！?/p>

????但在決定采購(gòu)之前，根據(jù)所了解到的一些信息，他也對(duì)安全問(wèn)題產(chǎn)生過(guò)擔(dān)憂。所以帕斯洛去了華盛頓，從1月到3月，有兩個(gè)半月時(shí)間，他每周去一次。他說(shuō)：“我在華盛頓的國(guó)會(huì)山拜訪了許多參議院和國(guó)會(huì)議員，我還去了安全機(jī)構(gòu)。我絕不能做出任何可能危害國(guó)家安全的決定?！钡A盛頓之行聽(tīng)到的說(shuō)辭都無(wú)法使他相信華為的設(shè)備會(huì)帶來(lái)威脅。他說(shuō)道：“我對(duì)議員和安全機(jī)構(gòu)的走訪非常滿意，并根據(jù)走訪的結(jié)果做出了最終的決定?！?/p>

????對(duì)于華為來(lái)說(shuō)，讓人們改變態(tài)度并非易事。但公司愿意繼續(xù)艱難前行，實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的長(zhǎng)期目標(biāo)。華為北美區(qū)總裁查爾斯?丁稱：“我們需要有足夠的耐心?！比A為計(jì)劃進(jìn)軍云計(jì)算和企業(yè)空間，并與甲骨文（Oracle）、亞美亞（Avaya）、惠普（Hewlett-Packard）、思科和亞馬遜（Amazon）等公司展開(kāi)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。據(jù)華為預(yù)測(cè)，截至2020年其全球收入將增長(zhǎng)三倍，達(dá)到1，000億美元——這是一個(gè)宏偉的目標(biāo)。不過(guò)，如果華為無(wú)法贏得美國(guó)的頂級(jí)客戶，一切都是空談；如果華為能夠讓華盛頓的大多數(shù)人相信，它的目的非常單純，那它或許能夠如愿。

????（翻譯 劉進(jìn)龍）

????Huawei has continued to pour resources into the U.S. in the years since. The Plano office is now a 100,000-square-foot building and is the North American headquarters. Huawei has set up 12 branch offices and seven R&D centers in the U.S., including a brand-new research center in Santa Clara, Calif., and now employs more than 1,100 people in the U.S., 75% of them Americans (some 200 Huawei employees in the U.S. have come from China). Huawei has the infrastructure to be a major telecom player in America.

????But competitors have a compelling reason to shut Huawei out of the bidding for big contracts: margins. While U.S. operators do an estimated 15% of the global spending on telecom equipment, they account for up to 25% of the profit. That's because gross margins for telecom equipment in the U.S. are 45% to 50%. Before Huawei entered Europe in late 2004, margins for Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent were that high too. But they fell to 30% to 35% immediately after Huawei arrived and began bidding aggressively, according to a report titled "Chinese Water Torture" by analysts at Berenberg Bank in Hamburg. The gearmaker's new technology makes it an even more formidable competitor because it can create significant cost savings for customers. Its SingleRAN equipment, for example, can handle multiple types of signals -- 2G, 3G, WiMax, CDMA, GSM -- on one box, freeing a carrier from building separate networks.

????Last fall when Sprint Nextel solicited bids for a network upgrade, Huawei offered a deal that would have saved the carrier at least $800 million from its existing costs in its first year of operation alone, according to several industry sources. But members of Congress, led by Sen. Jon Kyl, Republican from Arizona, launched a letter-writing campaign urging Sprint not to include Huawei. And Commerce Secretary Locke reportedly called CEO Dan Hesse to convey his "very deep concerns" about national security. The $5 billion prize was split among Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Samsung. Kyl and Locke declined to comment on the matter.

????Sprint's senior vice president of network, Bob Azzi, who made the contract decision, wouldn't acknowledge that Huawei had been a bidder. He says there are many costs to consider in an upgrade -- including transitioning to a new technology -- but that a warning from the Secretary of Commerce wasn't one of them. "I was not told what to do," he insists. "The bottom line is we made the choice in the business context we had. We decide on the costs; we decide on the benefits. Period."

????The Huawei team was crushed -- having been almost sure it was going to nail Sprint as its first Tier 1 contract in the U.S. ?To boost its chances, Huawei had formed a partnership with a company called Amerilink Telecom, headed by the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Bill Owens, who also was once CEO of Nortel Networks. "In my view it was a serious mistake for America not to [have had Sprint award Huawei the business]," says Owens. "They're opening all their source code to Sprint, to the U.S. government, to everyone. At Nortel, I never would have opened the source code to anyone, especially not the U.S. government. This is so compellingly wrong in the way this has happened."

Not a total shutout

????It may not have broken through to big U.S. carriers yet, but Huawei has begun to pick up serious momentum selling to mid-tier telecoms -- from core infrastructure to consumer devices. Last year Huawei tallied $765 million in revenue in North America, more than double its total from the year before. One important customer is Leap (LEAP), a spinoff from Qualcomm (QCOM) whose Cricket is the seventh-largest U.S. wireless operator. Leap first purchased Huawei's 3G equipment in 2006, then base stations in 2007, and modems in 2010. Currently it sells Huawei's affordable Android-based smartphone, the Ascend. T-Mobile offers the Huawei Ascend as well. And Best Buy (BBY) sells a seven-inch Android-based tablet from Huawei called the IDEOS S7, which at under $300 is aimed at consumers who don't want to splurge for an iPad.

????Some of that new business has led down surprising paths. For instance, another large customer is Internet wireless provider Clearwire, which, ironically, is majority-owned by Sprint. And Clearwire has a partnership deal to carry Sprint's 4G traffic -- on Huawei's equipment, as it turns out. Clearwire declined to comment except to confirm that Huawei was previously its WiMAX supplier and is now a supplier for its 4G network.

????Then there's Level3 Communications (LVLT) -- which operates secure-channel communications for over 200 government agencies, is a U.S. defense contractor, and forms what is called the backbone of the Internet, an IP transit network across the U.S. and Western Europe. That Level3 has purchased Huawei equipment is confirmed by industry sources and analysts, even though neither company has ever announced any deals. "It's base stations, core switching equipment -- the kind of stuff that really ought to keep people up at night," one source says. Level3 responds that customer confidentiality is its highest priority, but that it does not "comment further on network security" issues.

????Perhaps because of the cybersecurity issue, most of Huawei's customers decline to be interviewed about the company. One customer happy to talk was Robert Parsloe, founder and CEO of the new Northeast Wireless Networks, which is installing equipment to provide better cellular access and wireless broadband in remote places like Maine and Oregon. He raves that Huawei's SingleRAN box can handle both Sprint's CDMA and AT&T's GSM technologies -- along with microwave Internet connections from Canada. "That's the winning solution out here, and why I got so hooked on the Huawei equipment," says Parsloe, an ex-Lucent employee. "They're really industry leaders by far on the technology side."

????Before he made the purchase, though, he worried about security concerns based on what he had read. So Parsloe went to Washington -- once a week for 2 1/2 months from January through March. "I had meetings in D.C., on the Hill with senators and congressmen, and I went to the security agencies," he says. "I was not about to make a decision that might impair our national security." But he heard nothing that convinced him that equipment from Huawei would constitute any kind of threat. "I walked away feeling very comfortable making the decision based on my meetings and the agencies I met," he says.

????Winning converts has not been easy for Huawei. But the company is willing to keep slogging away to reach its long-term goals. "We just have to be patient," says Charles Ding, head of Huawei North America. Huawei's plans call for moving into cloud computing and the enterprise space -- bringing it into competition with the likes of Oracle (ORCL), Avaya, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Cisco, and Amazon (AMZN). Worldwide, Huawei forecasts that its revenue will triple by 2020, to more than $100 billion -- an ambitious goal and one it's unlikely to reach unless it can land top-tier customers in America. But if Huawei can convince enough people in Washington that its intentions are pure, it just might succeed.