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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Info firm has high hopes for China

Thomas Mendoza has been to Tokyo 36 times during the past eight years. But now China has become an important business travel destination for the president of the world's fourth-largest information storage company.


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Thomas Mendoza has been to Tokyo 36 times during the past eight years.

But now China has become an important business travel destination for the president of the world's fourth-largest information storage company.

The reason is simple - the world's most populous country has a market that Mendoza cannot afford to ignore.

"In the long term, our business in China can play an interesting role in our company," the Network Appliance executive said during his first trip to Beijing.

He spent the past week visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Taipei, the longest stay in a single country, to see the opportunities China has to offer.

Mendoza was most impressed by China's robust economic growth and plentiful number of skilled workers.

Although Network Appliance's business in China only accounted for about 1 per cent of its global total, it was one of the fastest growing markets for the NASDAQ-listed storage company last year, with more than 100 per cent growth.

The number of Network Appliance's local employees also doubled to 30, including Andrew Hu, its new China market managing director.

Hu has even higher aims for the future of the storage company in the world's fastest growing major economy.

"We want to double our business this year and maintain that speed over the next three years," said Hu, the former managing director of Oracle China and a Chinese software veteran.

The company will focus on key industries such as finance, telecom, government and energy.

At the same time, Network Appliance will also recruit some new staff in East, North and South China to support its expansion and its partners.

The US-headquartered business will also extend its co-operation with software giants Oracle and SAP and Japanese system integrator NTT Data.

At the same time, Network Appliance will team up with local partners to enter automobile manufacturing, high-tech and power generation companies, where it wants to have a presence but does not.

According to Hu, his company now has one distributor and four certified channel partners in the world's most populous market.

He said Network Appliance will develop one or two more distributors, besides the biggest Chinese information technology product distributor Digital China, to extend its market share, depending on the progress of his business.

Besides expanding through forging partnerships, Network Appliance will set up a small support centre in China this year, offering technical support and training to its customers and partners.

Source: China Daily


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