HAINAN, China, Oct. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Tencent Cloud signed a business cooperation memorandum to collaborate on providing public cloud with Software-as-a-Service solutions for industries. Both parties agreed to focus on emerging small and medium enterprises in the smarter cities and smarter healthcare industries as well as other fields. This will enable these industries to utilize mobile, cloud computing and big data tools to transform internal processes and operations, thus achieving cloud transformation in the era of mobility. As part of this milestone collaboration, Tencent Cloud and IBM will jointly promote industry innovation and gain from each company's resources and global capacity to benefit enterprise customers.

Tencent Holdings Limited ("Tencent", SEHK: 00700) is a leading provider of comprehensive Internet services in China.  Tencent Cloud is a strategic platform of Tencent with profound acumen in cloud computing based on its powerful infrastructure as well as many years' experience in the massive Internet services business. Tencent cloud provides enterprises and developers access to a complete cloud solution with cloud service, cloud data and cloud operations. 

Cloud is at the core of many industry transformations, with value migrating from broad cloud-based applications to industry-specific solutions. IDC predicts a tenfold increase in the number of cloud apps over the next four years. Two-thirds of these new apps will have an industry-specific or role-specific focus -- with the majority of the growth driven by developers in cloud application ecosystems.¹

At Tencent's 2014 Annual Global Partner Conference, Mr. Taosang Tong, President of Social Network Group, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent, Inc, said, "Tencent has a stable and reliable cloud computing platform, while IBM has abundant industry expertise aimed at the enterprise. We will work together to bring 'Internet mode' to more enterprise-level clients through cloud computing."

Tencent Cloud and IBM identified the priority industries of small and medium hyper-growth enterprises in smarter healthcare and smarter cities for their collaboration, and will together deliver the essential elements for businesses to get up and running on cloud, including:

• Industry consulting, cloud migration, integration and technical support services.
• Industry-specific and business process SaaS solutions, including solutions for customer care, digital marketing, enterprise asset management and smart office automation.
• Management and operation for public cloud and dedicated cloud from Tencent.

"The industry dimension makes this especially appealing for businesses," said Nancy Thomas, Managing Partner with IBM's Business Consulting Services in China. "IBM and Tencent's shared vision is not only to bring the scale and cost benefits of cloud computing to enterprises in China, but to add differentiating value by serving the particular needs of specific industries. That is the key to unlocking the transformative power of cloud computing."

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¹ IDC Predictions 2014: Battle for Dominance - and Survival - on the 3rd Platform, December 2013, IDC #244606.  

Media Contacts:           
Karen Davis            
IBM              
212-671 9430            
karend@us.ibm.com             

Yan Tao Niu                    
IBM China                      
+8610 63613205             
Yantniu@cn.ibm.com

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SOURCE IBM