NASDAQ-listed Borland Software, a provider of e-business platform solutions, has taken its first step toward setting up a wholly owned subsidiary in China by recently opening a representative office in Beijing.
Borland’s pending expansion on the Mainland is meant to capitalize on the country’s growing demand for enterprise software and services. “We expect China’s entry into the World Trade Organization to unleash strong growth in all industry sectors, particularly the IT market,” said Doug Barre, Borland’s chief operating officer.
“China’s Ministry of Information Industry expects total software sales in China to reach US$3.8 billion in 2001, a 12 percent increase over the previous year. Our new office in Beijing will enable us to provide local customers and partners with the high-level products, services and support they need to extend their applications to the Internet.”
Borland hopes to offer customers direct access to its portfolio of products once it manages to establish a subsidiary in China. These products include Delphi, JBuilder, C++ Builder, VisiBroker, Borland AppServer and AppCenter and Kylix. The U.S.-based company has all along been selling its products via authorized distributors to China’s software development community.
The setting up of the representative office in Beijing is the latest in a series of office openings worldwide; Borland had recently opened offices in Ireland, Sweden and Italy. In Asia Pacific, the company already operates offices in Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Australia.
Said Husen Tu, general manager of the Beijing rep office, “Borland’s recent launch of Kylix, the first native rapid application development (RAD) tool for Linux, underscores the company’s commitment to support the Chinese Government’s Linux operating system standardization plans, as well as the local Linux community.
“Now, through our Beijing representative office, we can introduce our customers to the full range of Borland software products and services and provide ongoing education and training to help them develop, deploy, and manage their mission-critical e-business applications.”
The 20-year IT veteran, who has held senior executive positions in IBM and Siemens, is now tasked with leading Borland’s initiatives in China, building relationships with local developers and businesses, and supporting the company’s existing distribution partners.
