Microsoft set to ride a cloud on mainland
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, July 20, 2012
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Microsoft is seeking local partners and is preparing to build data centers on the Chinese mainland on cloud computing services, which will support Windows 8 and Office 365 scheduled to be released by the end of this year. [Photo/China Daily] |
Microsoft Corp is on the verge of making a "breakthrough" in providing localized cloud computing service platform in China, the United States-based software giant announced in Shanghai Thursday.
This will impact millions of Chinese users of Microsoft products, especially those of the upcoming next generation Windows and Office products, the company said.
Microsoft is seeking local partners and is preparing to build data centers on the Chinese mainland on cloud computing services, which will support Windows 8 and Office 365 scheduled to be released by the end of this year, said Zhang Yaqin, Microsoft China's chairman.
"We are close to landing our cloud service in China," said Zhang, who declined to reveal more details.
Cloud computing allows users to save, edit, share and process data and files through various devices, including laptops, computers, and handsets, based on the online "cloud" platform. Top information technology giants, including Apple Inc, Amazon Inc and Google Inc, have invested heavily to penetrate the sector.
But overseas firms are presently not allowed to provide cloud services directly to the public in China, the world's biggest dot-com market by Internet population. For example, Google now provides cloud services globally. But its user experience is limited in China since its data centers are all situated overseas.
In China, Microsoft will find ready partners among telecommunications carriers like China Mobile and China Telecom, each of which has several hundred million users, analysts said.
Meanwhile, Microsoft announced a cooperation deal with Beijing-based PPTV on Internet video. PPTV will provide paid online video services overseas through Microsoft's cloud platform, Windows Azure.
Besides PPTV, Microsoft has found several small- and medium-sized enterprises in China as cloud partners.
In the next step, the software giant will expand cloud services to consumers, which will include the online storage tool SkyDrive.
"We are in the process of a big change. We will build a new operating system for consumers hosted on cloud," Zhang revealed.
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