Changsha's Powerise will develop the local market on behalf of Microsoft in a bid to help the US software giant develop its overseas and industrial markets.

The US company signed up Powerise yesterday as its second global strategic partner in China, which will also allow the pair to co-operate in training and certification, software development, sales and marketing, and international projects.

"This cooperation is a key milestone in the implementation of our globalization strategy," said Larry Ding, chairman of Powerise Information Technology Co Ltd, a company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The trading of Powerise's stocks was suspended yesterday due to the signing of the deal.

The companies have agreed to develop vertical industry solutions for enterprise customers based on Microsoft's .Net platform, which allows different software applications on different operating systems or devices to communicate and share data.

Tim Chen, Microsoft vice-president and chief executive officer of Microsoft China, said Powerise's strength in vertical industries was one of its strongest attributes.

Powerise, one of the biggest Chinese software solution providers, is strong in the telecom, finance, social security, and government sectors.

Microsoft formed a global strategic alliance with its first Chinese software company - Beijing's China National Computer Software and Technology Service Corp (CS&S) - in November to gain assistance in e-government and other industrial application markets.

Microsoft promised to train 200 software developers and 100 software architects for the Chinese software company in one year.

The US behemoth also outsourced some software projects to CS&S, which did not only help the local group rake in millions of dollars in outsourcing orders but also enabled it to gain experience in international outsourcing practices, according to CS&S Chairwoman Tang Min.

Shenyang-based Neusoft will soon become the third global strategic partner for Microsoft, according to Chen.

Similar to the Microsoft-CS&S model, Microsoft will also train about 200 software engineers for the Changsha-based software firm in one year in both the development of industrial solutions and outsourcing.

"The biggest help for us in this deal is brain," Chen said.

In reference to yesterday's deal, Wu Qidong, board secretary of Powerise, said Microsoft will open a training center in Changsha to train engineers for Powerise and other partners.

Chen Jinchuan, vice-president of Powerise International Software Co Ltd, said the company had won a contract from Microsoft to develop education solutions for the US company.

Chen said he believes Microsoft's help will boost his company's software outsourcing business.

Last year, Powerise's total software exports totalled several million dollars, but it expects fast growth in the future, according to sources with the company.

(China Daily April 20, 2004)