Alibaba expands cloud services with online SAP software
Tie-up with German software giant marks Alibaba’s most ambitious product launch involving an overseas tech firm
Alibaba Cloud (AliCloud), a subsidiary of e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group, is set to introduce three major online enterprise applications from German software giant SAP by the end of this year, marking its most ambitious product launch to date with a foreign information technology supplier.
SAP, the world’s largest supplier of business management software, announced the development at an event in Beijing on Wednesday, weeks after AliCloud unveiled a plan to help more overseas technology companies enter the mainland through its new “AliLaunch” initiative.
“Cloud computing has become the new infrastructure for businesses around the world,” said Simon Hu Xiaoming, president of AliCloud.
Cloud computing enables companies to buy, sell, lease or distribute online a range of software and other digital resources as an on-demand service, just like electricity from a power grid. These resources are managed inside data centres. “Cloud” refers to the internet as depicted in computer network diagrams.
The collaboration between Hangzhou-based AliCloud and SAP will bring products with highly reliable capabilities to companies in different industries, Hu added.
Cloud computing has become the new infrastructure for businesses around the world
According to AliCloud, the AliLaunch programme will become a “Tmall for the cloud computing industry” with up to 50 technology partners over the next 12 months.