Microsoft China has signed a cooperation agreement with China Standard Software Company Ltd, a Chinese Linux operating system provider, for the two parties to jointly develop, promote, and sell cloud computing solutions.

Microsoft and CS2C say they are committed to the building of a virtual technology joint lab in Beijing, which will focus on solutions development and testing of cloud solutions.

Sandy Gupta, general manager for the open solution business unit of Microsoft, said that the research focus of the new lab will be on Microsoft's Hyper-V open cloud architecture and will include support to run CS2C NeoKylin Linux Server products. Gupta revealed that a part of the cooperation will be implemented in the headquarters of Microsoft.

Sun Jiandong, vice president and general manager for the market strategy department of Microsoft Greater China, said that the two parties have had a long period of communication about the cooperation and the partnership is based on their customers' demands for interoperability. He also emphasized that the cooperation represents Microsoft's recognition of the strength of the Chinese enterprise.

Guo Tao, vice president of CS2C, said the organizational structure of the joint lab will be formed by researchers from both companies and they will implement joint research and development targeting the needs of clients. At present, clients who have demands for interoperability are mainly government and large enterprises.

As part of the collaboration, CS2C will take part in the Interop Vendor Alliance, a community of software and hardware vendors that have been working together to enhance interoperability with Microsoft systems.