CRN has an article on IBM's partnering with Range Technology group.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) and a Chinese company have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the building of Asia's largest data center just outside Beijing.

Executives of IBM and China-based Range Technology Development signed the deal on Friday during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit last week to the U.S.

The deal calls for IBM to help Range build a new data center stretching across 150 acres in a newly developed economic zone about 30 miles outside Beijing, said Steven Sams, vice president of IBM site and facilities services.

"We're helping open one of the largest data centers in the world," Sams said.

Data centers of this size cost hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to build, Sams said. "They're building a whole city around it to support its operation," he said.

It's interesting how much business IBM is winning in China, meanwhile in the US, the top data centers are being built by Google, QTS, and a bunch of others. The nice thing is the design is a green data center design.

IBM is helping design and construct the data center, offering the same services it offers all its data center partners, Sams said. Scheduled to open in 2016, it will be built to IBM specifications and international green standards, Sams said.

IBM has been helping design and construct data centers in China since 1997, and counts among its customers the country's five largest banks and other enterprises, Sams said.

I wonder when the Chinese will figure out who designs the state of the art data centers in the USA.

Or maybe the Chinese want to own the IP, and IBM is willing to sell.

Intellectual property rights related to its data center design and construction business are not an issue for IBM, Sams said.

"The designs for Range are unique for them," he said. "They'll own the design. We'll add technology to make it the best, most efficient data center in the world, like we do for any customer. They'll buy it and own it."