Tata Consultancy Services, Asia's largest software services company, has tied up with a Chinese company to tap the $ 5-billion Chinese software services market.

Zoom Networks, an IT and telecommunications service provider in China, will partner TCS in what is being touted as the first formal relationship between an Indian IT company and Chinese company.

TCS will sign an Memorandum of Understanding with Zoom Networks to deliver IT consulting and system integration services to local and multinational companies operating in China.

The objective is to use Zoom's extensive local market knowledge and IT expertise across industries, and TCS’ track record in system design and quality management.

The alliance will initially focus on the telecommunications and financial services sectors, which is experiencing an increasing demand for software development and services.

China's software market is expected to grow by 21.3% to top $7.5 billion by 2005. TCS and Zoom will also jointly train local professionals in software design, management and implementation.

TCS has already formed a wholly-owned subsidiary in China called Tata Information Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. According to Xu Ling, CEO and President of Zoom Networks, "The fierce competition brought about by China’s entry into the WTO, we believe Zoom and Chinese companies will benefit from the best practices in systems design, management and implementation that TCS has developed.