ZTE, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions,on Thursday said that it woud join global information technology leaders on a cloud computing standards study group.

The group, formally called Study Group 13 (SG 13), is overseen by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Other companies in the group include Microsoft, France Telecom Orange and the Korean Electronics and Telecommunications Institute. ZTE is the only Chinese company in the group. SG 13’s research includes work on standards related to interoperability of cloud services and portability of cloud data.

The group is derived from the Focus Group on Cloud Computing (FG Cloud), a temporary organization created by ITU-T in response to industry demand for standards. Companies from countries around the world participate in the FG Cloud through research activities.

In addition to its work for the ITU-T, ZTE also has been filing for cloud computing patents since 2006. According to statistics from China’s State Intellectual Property Office ZTE ranks No.1 within the country with 107 cloud computing patents.