Microsoft has announced an agreement with Beijing-based Linux operating system provider China Standard Software Co. Ltd. (better known as CSC2) to develop, co-market and sell cloud solutions for the expanding Chinese cloud market. And supporting the effort, Microsoft said, will be a “rich partner ecosystem.”

These joint solutions will be what Microsoft described as “mixed source” – which is to say it will be built using a blend of open source and proprietary code to enable the Microsoft Hyper-V Open Cloud architecture to support for the open source CSC2 NeoKylin Linux Server product.

Simon Leung, chairman and CEO of Microsoft Greater China Region, praised the deal in a prepared statement:

This deal, which Microsoft’s press release described as a “mutually beneficial customer legal covenant agreement,” also entails the opening of a joint virtual technology lab in Beijing for developing and testing cloud infrastructure migration solutions.

That lab also carries the mission of “certification of CS2C NeoKylin Operating System on Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, creating Microsoft Systems Center management packs for CS2C NeoKylin Operating System application workloads, and incorporating support for CS2C NeoKylin Operating System within the Hyper-V Cloud architecture.”

Finally, with this announcement, CS2C joins Microsoft’s Interop Vendor Alliance, Redmond’s own association of software and hardware developers working for maximum compatibility around its offerings.

TalkinCloud has been noticing the momentum around cloud solutions in Asian regions all year. But to my knowledge, this is the first time a heavyweight such as Microsoft has made a play specifically for the Chinese cloud market.