It seems that China has plans on becoming a major world force as a cloud computing giant. Of course they will needs the help of U.S. firms to build data storage for its own population. This will be good news for major tech companies that will need to supply them with the necessary software and hardware necessary to make these goals a dream come true.
Microsoft, IBM and Hewlett-Packard, are lining up with the hope that by lending their expertise now that this will help open the door to later partnerships with China and the Chinese shell companies.
Microsoft has wanted to sell cloud-based software to Chinese users, but have not had the opportunity because of Beijing restrictions. Until they are lifted the restrictions bar direct foreign sales in China.
Apparently China has 538 million Internet users make it a desirable market for cloud storage. But at the moment, all citizens are prohibited from storing data outside the country, how can they monitor it if they don’t control it?
I suspect that privacy concerns will slow China’s bid to provide cloud services to others; I know I want to share all of my data with Beijing. The country will probably have plenty of capacity, but global customers won’t rush to use it, or avoid it outright. Even with regulations to ensure that data storage is both reliable and secure, China is not know for honoring privacy.