Shanghai Telecom Launches eYun Online Data Service

China Telecommunications Corp.‘s (China Telecom) Shanghai subsidiary has partnered with data storage firm EMC Corp., to launch an online data storage service called eYun, China Telecom.

The service, which is available across the country, is accessible only through computers, and gives all registered users 2 gigabytes (GB) of free storage on its servers, regardless of whether they subscribe to the service.

China Telecom offers a monthly service bundle priced at RMB 15 ($2.20) per month for 10 GB of storage and another for RMB 40 ($5.86) per month for 300 GB of storage. Annual plans cost RMB 165 ($24.16) for 10 GB and RMB 440 ($64.42) for 300  GB. Subscribers have to pay extra for additional storage space.

While logged on to 51eyun.com or eyun.online.sh.cn, users can log their Web history and chat logs and save personal data, pictures, documents, music and  mail, according to the  announcement. The  service allows subscribers to conserve disk  space on their own computers, while providing a secure environment for their data. All data stored on the eYun’s servers is automatically backed up and protected from damage, theft and viruses. In addition, eYun can be used in concert with other software applications.

According to the announcement, China Telecom attracted more than 20,000 eYun subscribers during eYun’s seven-month service trial, which began in February. The majority of the subscribers were from Guangdong Province. EMC stated in the China Telecom announcement that eYun is China’s first fully operational cloud computing project.

EMC provides China Telecom with storage devices, software, research and development and customer support solutions, and will split revenues generated from the new service with the operator, although the revenue sharing ratio has not been revealed.