IBM has partnered with 21Vianet Group, a major data center provider in China, to bring the Armonk, New York-based giant's enterprise cloud services to the country. 21Vianet will host an IBM pod at its Beijing data center.

Laurie Tropiano, an IBM general manager, said the partnership would set a new benchmark for cloud performance in China. “Our clients, the pillars of China’s economy, will see IBM further accelerating its efforts around driving innovation in China with enhanced IBM cloud offerings as a platform,” she said.

According to IBM, 21Vianet is the largest carrier-neutral data center services provider in China. The company provides hosting, managed network services and cloud computing infrastructure services, among others.

Operating in about 40 cities, its facilities offer access to China's internet backbone and its proprietary routing technology, called BroadEx, increases speed and reliability of data delivery across the Internet.

Josh Chen, 21Vianet chairman and CEO, said, “Through this cooperation, 21Vianet Group, Inc has obtained not only business growth, but also comprehensive enhancement in service capability of cloud computing, providing a platform upon which enterprises to base their critical and production workloads for growth.”