Microsoft forms tie-up to bring Windows 10 to govt procurement market

Microsoft Corp set up a joint-venture with a State-owned technology firm on Thursday to bring the Windows 10 operating system to government procurement market.

The new JV, named C&M Information Technologies, will be a critical vehicle for the United States-based software giant to sell its cloud-empowered OS to Chinese government and State-owned enterprises.

The agreement was signed in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, where China is holding the World Internet Conference to showcase ideas of cyberspace governance.

China Electronics Technology Group, the Chinese investor of the C&M, has been preparing a series of internal tests for its support of Windows 10 since a preliminary partnership agreement was reached during President Xi Jinping's US visit in last September.

CETC will control 51 percent of the shares in C&M while Microsoft takes the rest 41 percent, according to a press release to China Daily by the organizer of the conference. The registered capital of C&M is $40 million.

Ralph Haupter, CEO of Microsoft China, said the JV will focus on "special fields" that buyers need to localized products.

An article on the company's official site unveiled more details: "The new joint venture that will license, deploy, manage and optimize Windows 10 for China's government agencies and certain SOEs and provide ongoing support and services for these customers."

The C&M, headquartered in Beijing, will focus on sectors including energy, telecommunications, and transportation, the article said.

China's government procurement market is closed to Windows 10, which Microsoft deems the best chance to compete with Apple Inc's iOS and Google Inc's Android in mobile Internet era

Wu Lianfeng, vice-president and chief analyst of industry consultancy IDC China, said overseas tech providers will need to find local partners to tap into the Chinese market because of rising information security concerns.

Microsoft brought in a Beijing-based company when it introduced the cloud computing services to the Chinese mainland in 2013.