Baidu and CloudFlare Boost Users Over China’s Great Firewall

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Using a mixture of CloudFlare’s web traffic technology and Baidu’s network of data centers in China, the two created a service that enables websites to load more quickly across China’s border.

The service, called Yunjiasu, began operating in December. It has a unified network that makes foreign sites more easily accessible in China, and allows Chinese sites to run in destinations outside the country. At the heart of the arrangement is an unusual structure known as a virtual joint venture. Under that arrangement, CloudFlare does not actually operate in China. Instead, CloudFlare cooperates primarily from afar as Baidu runs the business in China. Baidu and CloudFlare’s virtual joint venture relies on a principle generally considered anathema to foreign companies looking to do business with China: trust. CloudFlare transferred its intellectual property that is used to manage and speed up Internet traffic to Baidu and works closely with its engineers to run that technology on Baidu’s network in China. The two share revenue from the service.


Baidu and CloudFlare Boost Users Over China’s Great Firewall