Windows Azure supports a range of open-source development tools.

Ni Guangnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that Chinese companies don't have enough developers of open-source software due to a critical shortage of qualified developers. "For a long time, China trained IT engineers mainly based on Windows platforms, resulting in an oversupply of engineers familiar with Windows, while there is an acute shortage of developers familiar with open-source software," Ni said.

To change this situation, the Leadership of Open-source University Promotion Alliance, which was established by more than 70 universities in 2005, launched a program last May to improve vocational education and employment prospects for future open-source engineers. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Ni, who was the former chief engineer at Lenovo Group, the largest PC maker in the world, spoke highly of the program. "This educational transformation is consistent with the international development trends of the IT industry."

Robust momentum

Wang Jian, chief technology officer of Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce firm, said that cloud computing provides the best opportunity for traditional manufacturing companies to embrace the Internet era.

On March 17, Alibaba signed a cooperative agreement with Midea Group, one of China's largest household appliance manufacturers. Based on the agreement, the two companies will build a platform for the Internet of Things based on the Alibaba Cloud Computing platform (www.aliyun.com), which will make remote control of household appliances possible.

"We can use cloud computing and big data to create an edge for Midea by moving the company's sales, account management, supply chain, enterprise resource plan and after-sale service toward an Internet platform," Wang said.

Many household appliance giants are seeking similar deals.

Alibaba's cloud computing ambitions are not limited to the household appliance business. On March 20, Aliyun signed a contract with Beijing-based Newauto Co. to build one of China's largest cloud computing-based media platforms, which can transform a traditional TV station into an Internet-based media outlet, whose programs can be played at websites and on cellphone apps, within a week. Meanwhile, the transformation will enable the TV station to collect and utilize massive amount of client data. It is estimated that around 200 TV stations will use this platform by the end of this year.

In the safety service center of Wansent China, a firefighting service company based in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA) in the capital city's southeastern suburb of Daxing District, whenever a fire alarm sounds, an alarm sign immediately pops out on the computer screen and the location of the fire is accurately identified on a large monitoring screen at the same time.

The company is one of a few companies in China devoted to the development of such a firefighting system, which comprises of detectors, alarm controllers and a remote monitoring center. They utilize cloud computing in its production safety area.

By the end of 2013, the total investment in cloud computing projects in BDA reached 20 billion yuan ($3.22 billion), which made the area China's leading industrial base for the technology.

The China Cloud Industrial Park, which was launched by BDA in September 2011, plans to eventually attract total investments of more than 50 billion yuan ($8.07 billion), generate annual revenue of more than 200 billion yuan ($32.2 billion) and provide more than 50,000 jobs.

In December 2013, Beijing was authorized by the MIIT to register startups using industrial cloud solutions. Under this pilot program, small businesses can focus on their core activities and leave other supporting functions to third-party suppliers by relying on cloud computing technologies.

Meanwhile, China Telecom, one of China's three major telecom service providers, is expanding its cloud computing infrastructure by building data centers all over the country. Helin County in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is a base for such expansions and has a designed hosting capacity of 2 million servers, which will make it the largest of its kind in Asia.

"We will provide a whole-package cloud computing solutions for governments and enterprises alike in a dozen of sectors, including education, healthcare, finance and tourism," said Wang Feng, President of China Telecom's cloud computing branch.

Email us at: tangyuankai@bjreview.com