Futong Technology strikes cloud computing deal with EMC

EMC's partnership with E-tong aimed to further latter's cloud computing capability to keep abreast with innovations.

Futong Technology Development Holdings Limited , the leading provider of enterprise IT products in China, and EMC Corporation, a global leader focused on IT infrastructure solutions, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a strategic partnership to promote cloud computing solutions with multi-faceted, profound and comprehensive cooperation, according to a Futong Technology report.

EMC plans to cooperate with Beijing E-tong Dongfang Computer System Services Co. Ltd. (“E-tong”), a subsidiary of Futong Technology, to enhance E-tong’s capability of virtualisation and private cloud computing. E-tong will be dedicated to focusing on the distribution and integration service of EMC’s cloud computing and virtual storage products and solutions. It will also form a service team focusing on EMC VPLEX virtual storage and Ionix IT management solutions in order to enable customers to adopt cloud computing. E-tong and Centrin-Futong, another JV company of Futong Technology, will both become EMC Velocity Partners.

The partnership initiative between the Chinese IT value-added distributor and system integrator and the global storage and IT enterprise marks a new milestone for Futong Technology in strengthening its business.

Mr. Chen Jian, Chairman of Futong Technology, said, “The needs of enterprise data centres are presently changing dramatically. Thus we expect unprecedented growth of China’s cloud computing market now and the future. This partnership is intended to address our customers’ shifting requirements. Through E-tong, we will commence in-depth strategic cooperation with upstream vendors, to gain a more favorable position as the market transforms.”

The technology and service team of E-tong has accumulated solid experience in virtual storage and virtual data center management since it started to provide virtual storage solutions in China five years ago. With one of the strongest teams and with the most successful implementations in the country, E-tong plans to further develop its virtual storage solutions and Ionix IT management solutions. The company plans to provide more effective virtual and cloud storage and computing solutions to more customers through strengthening its presales, consultation, customer training and project implementation capabilities.

Mr. Bill Tueber, Vice Chairman of EMC Board, said, “Now is the key moment to develop the cloud computing applications market in China. To accelerate the introduction of virtualisation and cloud computing for customers in China, EMC needs to work with a strong local partner and the cooperation with E-tong was made to secure that partner’s services.”

CCW Research stated in its “2010 Chinese enterprise data centre market research report” published in April 2010, that the IT investment in 2009 made by Chinese enterprise data centers was 17.8% higher than that in 2008, and is expected to surge to 24.6% in 2010. The increasingly widespread takeup of cloud computing and virtualisation is expected to be boosted by this market trend in the next few years.

Futong Technology has been operating within the virtual storage and related business sectors since 2006 and has established a client base encompassing government, public organisations and large enterprises. It has accumulated more than 10 years of experience in providing system integration services for enterprise information products including servers, system storage and database applications. Looking ahead, the Group will restructure its storage virtualisation, business continuity solutions and service teams and transfer them to E-tong. The Group has also prepared a recruitment and training program which will strengthen E-tong’s ability in implementing EMC VPLEX virtual storage and Ionix IT management solutions.