Alibaba's Cloud Subsidiary Opens Beijing Data Center

While all the hype is around Alibaba’s upcoming IPO, the company’s cloud computing subsidiary Aliyun has formally opened a data center in Beijing. The first phase consists of 10,000 servers, primarily serving clients in the Beijing and North China region.

This is the third location focused on global services for Aliyun, which also has data centers in Hangzhou and Qingdao, China Tech News reported. The company is accelerating expansion, reportedly evaluating locations overseas, the U.S. and Southeast Asia being the most likely markets it tackles next.

The provider offers four types of services: cloud servers, relational database, cloud storage and load balancing. More products are anticipated for the future.  Its customers range from startups to government research institutions and financial organizations.

Aliyun's parent company Alibaba is an e-commerce giant in China. Its IPO could mean a valuation of more than $160 billion once the offering completes. Yahoo, which owns nearly a quarter of Alibaba, has been enjoying a jump in the value of its own stock as the market prepares for what is expected to be a blockbuster float.

China remains an extremely compelling and interesting market, not just for homegrown companies, but for U.S. tech giants establishing cloud plays locally, such as Microsoft and Amazon.

There are some government hurdles and politics standing in the way of the market truly opening up, with the Chinese government imposing strict control over both business and the internet. Aliyun being local, it stands a good chance of capturing an increasing amount of the cloud market share.