Attempting to carve out a role in China’s e-commerce future, Compaq signed an agreement with the Guangdong Post and Telecom Administration (GPTA) to establish an e-commerce technology center.
The main function of the e-commerce center will be to develop and deploy e-commerce applications for the telecommunication industry in China based on Compaq’s hardware platforms and related software products.
“Over the past 20 years, the Guangdong Province has experienced the fastest economic growth in China,” said Philip Yu, president of
Compaq Greater China Division. “This level of growth ensures that the province will be a key player in China’s IT industry in the 21st century.”
“Compaq was selected as the partner for this project because of its excellent reputation for enterprise solutions and its worldwide system integration capabilities,” Cui Xun, director-general of GPTA. “With its
Tandem NonStop hardware platform and end-to-end solutions, Compaq is one of
the world’s leading providers of e-commerce offerings.”
The center’s initial developments will focus on digital certification, SET
payment gateways and end-user e-commerce applications for the
telecommunications industry in the Guangdong Province.
The center is also planning to expand the applications to new markets such as mobile
e-commerce and online database access.
In 1997, GPTA recorded revenues of US$5 billion and profits of US$3.2
billion which is around 19 percent of China’s total
telecommunications revenue and has made GPTA one of the most important
telecommunications providers in the country.
GPTA completed an investment of US$1.2 billion in fixed assets in
Guangdong Province in 1997.