One of the largest Chinese download service provides Xunlei has joined Baidu (BIDU) Alliance, which means Xunlei's users will be able to directly use Baidu.com's search box embedded in the products of Xunlei.
Xunlei and Baidu Alliance formally signed a cooperative agreement at the beginning of November 2008, but only now is the partnership being disclosed. With this agreement, Xunlei will cooperate with Baidu Alliance in all of its products, ranging from its search engine Gougou to client.
Internet search engine Baidu says the joining of Xunlei once again shows the attraction of Baidu Alliance to quality network resources. In regards to the cooperation between Xunlei and Baidu, Xunlei's marketing director Zhang Yubo told local media it is simple business cooperation. Through this cooperation, Baidu will supply search results for Xunlei and Xunlei will integrate Baidu's toolbar in its products.
Prior to this, Xunlei achieved a strategic cooperation with Google in 2007, according to which Google and Xunlei would implement cooperation in many sectors, including products, technology and marketing and Google would provide overall search support to the users of Xunlei. In addition, Xunlei has gained strategic investment from Google. Although neither side has revealed the detailed amount, industry insiders speculate the number might be as much as USD5 million.
