A JOINT venture between Hangzhou Technologies and 3Com is expected to cooperate with firms such as Intel to develop Internet protocol products to compete with arch rival Cisco Systems in China.

Known as H 3C, it will invest 15 percent of revenue - which reached US$712 million in 2006 - on research spending.

Research staff accounts for 51 percent of H 3C's total employee base, according to Jessie Wu, H 3C's marketing and sales president.

H 3C launched a platform called OAA (open application architecture) with Intel, Beijing Rising and Beijing DHC Digital Technology in Shanghai yesterday, which provides IP storage, enterprise-level security, data network and video monitor functions.

H 3C , which provides core-technologies of the platform, will attract more partners to improve the platform, according to Wu.

"Cisco grabs the market share through M & A so we're taking another strategy: partnership," Wu said.

"A company will grow strong naturally when it has many partners working on the same front."

China's router market will hit US$820 million in 2009 from US$660 million in 2004.