III. International Cooperation

The industry has always had an open mind during the development of cloud computing. Local governments, colleges, research institutions and high-tech companies conduct technological exchanges and industry and standardization cooperation with leading cloud computing players, including many American companies, through both domestic and international platforms.

Industry cooperation

International industry cooperation include three major models: foreign-funded companies invest directly to build cloud computing centers; foreign-funded companies work together with local governments to build public cloud computing platforms; and Chinese companies buy foreign equipment to build cloud computing platforms. In 2008, IBM invested 50 million yuan and built the Taihu Lake Cloud Center. It was one of IBM's first projects in cloud technology to be put into commercial use and is China's first cloud center. In November 2008, China's first SaaS service platform, constructed by Suzhou Industrial Park and Microsoft, opened and provided SaaS service to companies based in the Park. China Telecom Shanghai Company built e-Cloud with technical solutions and equipment from EMC of the United States. Cloud storage services based on that system went online in September 2009. Above are successful examples out of many industry cooperation instances between China and international cloud computing businesses. I believe there will be more models as cooperation goes further and deeper.

Industry alliance and forums

Domestic and international leading cloud companies are also exchanging and seeking cooperation through industry alliance and forums. Zhongguancun Cloud Computing Industry Alliance, China Cloud Computing Technology and Industry Alliance and Wuhan Cloud Computing Industry Alliance are just a few of many such organizations. Both international and domestic organizations played an active part in these organizations. The Chinese Academy of Telecommunications Research of the Ministry of Information Industry, China Communications Standards Association and Internet Society of China have organized several exchanges on key questions facing cloud services development, such as security, supervision and standardization, with more than 30 leading cloud computing companies. The purpose is to find solutions to the key problems and promote the development of cloud computing in China.

Cooperation on standardization

In the meantime, Chinese companies and research institutions are taking an active part in international standardization for cloud computing. They are working with ITU-T, IETF, CSA, DMTF and The Open Group on standardization, promoting domestic cloud computing technologies. What they achieve will provide a constant driving force for innovation in the development of cloud computing.