Microsoft Open Technologies expands presence to China

SHANGHAI, USA: Microsoft Open Technologies Inc. (MS Open Tech), a subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. dedicated to bridging Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies, on Thursday announced the opening of a subsidiary in China, Microsoft Open Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (MS Open Tech Shanghai).

MS Open Tech Shanghai will have a robust team of engineers, standards professionals and technical evangelists with roots in open source and open standards.

The Chinese subsidiary will focus on facilitating interactions between Microsoft proprietary development processes and the company's open innovation efforts on services and devices by advancing the investments in interoperability, open standards and open source.

A July 26, 2013, Gartner Research report, titled "Global Data Point: Gartner, Hype Cycle for ICT in China, 2013," states, "There is growing interest in China in the evolution of cloud technologies, open-source software, shared services, data center technologies such as the software-defined network, smart cities and green IT/sustainability."

As interest in cloud computing and open source technologies increases in China, Microsoft is focused on providing local customers with greater choice and opportunity to work successfully in heterogeneous IT environments. Through its operations in Shanghai, MS Open Tech will play a pivotal role by driving investments in interoperability and standards in Microsoft products, contributing to the open source community, and enabling open source software on Microsoft platforms, such as Windows Azure.

Jean Paoli, president of MS Open Tech, said, "We are committed to fostering Chinese innovation. Our new subsidiary will offer more flexibility to iterate and release open source software created in China, participate in existing open source and open standards efforts, and collaborate with the community of open source developers in China."

Qiu Shanqin, chairman of China Open Source Software Promotion Union (COPU), said, "MS Open Tech China will enhance the collaboration between Microsoft and China technology companies in the area of open technologies. It will elevate technology innovation, promote the development of software industry in China and become a driver of economic development. MS Open Tech will also help attract more talent, which is the foundation of any community."

"I hope MS Open Tech will participate in and become an active member of the open source community in China and cultivate the Chinese open source community into a leading community in the world," added Shanqin.