China Telecom, IBM in cloud computing pact for Chinese market

China Telecom Corporation Limited and IBM  today said that they have entered into a three-year agreement to bring SAP cloud-based applications to China Telecom's small and medium businesses.

Additionally, the cloud-based SAP applications will better enable China Telecom SMB customers who have or are planning to implement SAP applications, to reduce operating and application management costs with enterprise-ready applications.

As a leading Chinese telecommunication company and the largest infrastructure network operator in China, China Telecom will manage clients' infrastructure that includes cloud platform resources, networking and mobile devices. IBM will integrate the software, hardware and end-to-end service capabilities to create a complete environment in that supports SAP applications on the cloud.

China Telecom is the largest IDC / cloud computing service provider in China, and has built ''4+2'' cloud resource network with Inner Mongolia and Guizhou as the center and with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu as the backbone nodes.
By taking advantage of cloud computing technology, businesses will be able to accelerate implementation, providing scalability and elasticity to meet their individual needs.

Working with China Telecom, IBM will provide integrated and seamless management across all SAP architectures and delivery models. Clients can migrate and integrate new applications on the cloud, while maintaining and operating current applications.

Given IBM's extensive experience delivering successful cloud and SAP implementations to drive enterprise transformations across Greater China, IBM will provide the tools and skill education China Telecom requires to ensure support for their SMB clients throughout all phases of implementation. This includes testing, customisation and ongoing issue resolution. 

Under the agreement signed today, China Telecom and IBM will first focus on clients in the Guangdong province and then extend the project to such key areas as Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing and Tianjin.

''Today's announcement represents an important step in the Chinese cloud computing market that will provide one of the fastest growing segments within China greater access to cloud resources,'' said D.C. Chien, general manager and chief executive officer, IBM Greater China Group.

''Our work with China Telecom will provide small-to-medium sized businesses in China with the means to more quickly deploy enterprise-grade cloud capabilities and assist them in driving innovation via the cloud,''Chien added.

China Telecom has the largest fixed phone network and CDMA mobile phone network in the world, and is the largest ICT service provider in China to offer various integrated ICT information service for its subsidiaries in 31 provinces, including the telephone service, Internet access and application, data communication and mobile communication.

China Telecom has a complete ICT service system and professional application service team, and takes the first step in providing integrated SAP public cloud and private cloud solutions innovatively in China.

Today, IBM has 100+ cloud SaaS solutions. Since 2007, IBM has invested more than $7 billion in about17 acquisitions to accelerate its cloud initiatives and build a high value cloud portfolio. IBM holds 1,560 cloud patents focused on driving innovation. In fact, IBM for the 21st consecutive year topped the annual list of US patent leaders. IBM processes more than 5.5M client transactions daily through IBM's public cloud.