The alliance will be led by Legend, China's biggest computer maker, along with other Chinese big names in the fields of household electrical appliances, telecommunications and computing.

Yang Yuanqing, Legend's president and chief executive, told the Legend World 2002 Forum in Beijing yesterday: "Following two years of preparatory work, we have already made some significant breakthroughs and our phase-one goal has been achieved." He was referring to the company's progress in promoting integrated applications between individuals, enterprises and other organizations.

Legend said it will seamlessly integrate network resources to provide effective services to its customers.

Ma Songde, vice-minister of science and technology, said: "It (forming a corporate alliance) is of crucial importance to China, which still has inadequate input in research and development." Ma added that the country will also take action to form a Linux alliance to promote the operating system for PCs.

Liu Chuanzhi, chairman of Legend, also said that the opening of the forum marked a turnaround for Legend, which was moving from being a traditional market-driven firm to a technology-driven high-tech enterprise with sound research capabilities.

Yang also confirmed that his company would concentrate on technological innovations in four major areas, namely high-performance computing, network storage, centralized management and optimization of resources, and applied software support platforms.

He added that Legend would actively participate in the formulation of an international standard on electronic commerce and a national electronic government standard.

(China Daily December 4, 2002)