Microsoft picks Shanghai for cloud computing

Microsoft Corp has chosen Shanghai as the first city in China for commercial and public cloud computing services, Microsoft and the Shanghai government said yesterday.

"It's a milestone agreement to show Microsoft's commitment to China," said Ralph Haupter, chairman and CEO of Microsoft China. "Microsoft will continue to expand and accelerate investment in China, driving the next era of innovation and opportunity."

The cloud agreement enables customers in China to access Microsoft's Office 365 and Windows Azure services operated by 21Vianet in China, the world's biggest personal computer and Internet market.

Microsoft's Office 365 provides customers services including secure access to e-mails and calendars, instant messaging, conference and file sharing anywhere. Windows Azure offers customers in China with public cloud computing platform services including computing, storage, database, integration and networking services.

The data centers and related infrastructure, which will be built in Pudong New Area, support cloud computing services that allow users to save, edit, share and process data and files through various devices, including laptops, computers and mobile phones, based on the online "cloud" platform.

Apple Inc, Amazon Inc and Google Inc have also invested heavily in cloud computing.

Cloud computing will create 4 million new jobs for China by 2015, IDC predicted.

Shanghai, Microsoft and 21Vianet Group Inc, Microsoft's cloud service partner and operator in China, signed the strategic partnership agreement yesterday.