Intel is serious about getting China involved in OpenStack development. To further that cause, the chip manufacturer has teamed up with a variety of Chinese organizations to form the China Open Source Cloud League.

The aim of the new group is to support and develop OpenStack within China and also collaboration with the global community of OpenStack developers. Focusing on development, support, performance optimization, and large-scale deployment, the OpenStack group hopes to increase adoption in China and also encourage contributions.

The China Open Source Cloud League will include Intel Asia-Pacific Research and Development, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Sina, and China Standard Software. The organizations signed their agreement last week and will begin attempts to promote and influence the adoption of the open-source cloud, and OpenStack in particular, within the Chinese cloud market. One of the members, Sina, one of China’s largest Internet companies, already uses OpenStack for some of its cloud deployments.

While downloads of OpenStack from China are second only to those of the United States, the actual number of production deployments is still rather low. This may be a sign that Chinese companies are interested in open source cloud options but may not have reached the point of full acceptance. The China Open Source Cloud League may be able to provide the education and technological incentives they need to push them over the edge.

OpenStack has become very popular among U.S. IT companies, although it has experienced a fair mix of successes and failures. The open source cloud platform is designed to free cloud users from the limitations of a proprietary cloud system, which most vendors deploy. Along with Intel, OpenStack enjoys the support and contributions of NASA, Rackspace, Citrix, AMD, and a number of other major IT firms.