On March 29, the municipal government of Liaoyuan, Jilin province, held a signing ceremony in the provincial capital of Changchun for an agreement with IBM to construct projects including a Northeast China cloud computing center, IBM's third in China. After its completion, the cloud computing center will power digital city and cross-industry cloud computing services for Liaoyuan, Northeastern China, and Inner Mongolia. IBM, IT outsourcing and consulting provider iSoftStone (NYSE: ISS), and mobile communications technology company Datang Mobile plan to invest RMB 1 bln into the project over a three-year period, with a first-stage investment of RMB 500 mln to be completed by June 30 of this year.

The facility is expected to achieve sales revenues of RMB 1.3 bln within the three-year period following completion, and RMB 2 bln within five years of completion. IBM will also partner with Jilin University on establishing joint R&D organizations, and Jilin University will establish a local center in Liaoyuan for graduate students specializing in computing applications and software.

Editor's Note: IBM's other two cloud computing centers in China are located in Beijing and in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.

Source:marbridgeconsulting